Thesis "Assortative mating in young adult romantic relationships"

Thesis "Assortative mating in young adult romantic relationships" May 2011

"Research on mate selection has often shown that individuals choose romantic partners based on similarity in characteristics, behaviors and traits. The current research in the field of romantic attraction has primarily focused on married, adult populations to determine how individuals select a romantic partner. In this study, a young adult sample in dating relationships was examined to determine whether assortative mating exists for this population, as it seems to in married couples. ... The Mini IPIP was used to determine personality similarity and the Adult Self Report measure was used to determine similarity in problem behavior and substance use. Partners were not similar in personality, but were similar in problem behavior and substance use. Partner dissimilarity in substance use was related to length of relationship. Interestingly, partner dissimilarity in agreeableness was associated with a longer relationship. Partner dissimilarity had no effect on relationship dissolution. "

It is flawed:
* participants were 82 heterosexual unmarried couples, average age was 19.87 years (SD= 1.39) TOO YOUNG  The average length of time participants were in their current romantic relationship was 1.59 years (SD= 1.60).
* Mini IPIP was used to determine personality (a 20-item shortened version, Big 5).
* how similarity is calculated (bivariate correlations were used to assess personality similarity).

The milestone German paper "Only the congruent survive - Personality similarities in couples. Personality and Individual Differences" Rammstedt & Schupp (2008) is not even cited.

Please DO remember:
Klohnen & Luo in 2005: "attitude and value similarity may play a different role in relationship development than personality similarity does. For example, whereas similarity in attitudes and values appears to be important early on in the relationship and may play an important role in relationship progression, personality similarity becomes more important as the relationship reaches greater commitment." [The average length of time participants -in the thesis- were in their current romantic relationship was 1.59 years (SD= 1.60)]

The Online Dating Industry needs innovations but they will come from only one source: the latest discoveries in theories of romantic relationships development with commitment.
I) Several studies showing contraceptive pills users make different mate choices, on average, compared to non-users.
II) People often report partner preferences that are not compatible with their choices in real life.
III) Compatibility is all about a high level on personality* similarity* between prospective mates for long term mating with commitment.
*personality measured with a normative test.
*similarity: there are different ways to calculate similarity, it depends on how mathematically is defined.

Also Personality Based Recommender Systems are the next generation of recommender systems because they perform FAR better than Behavioural ones (past actions and pattern of personal preferences). That is the only way to improve recommender systems, to include the personality traits of their users and they need to calculate personality similarity between them.

WorldWide, there are over 5,000 online dating sites
but no one is using the 16PF5 (or similar test) to assess personality of its members.
Without offering the 16PF5 (or similar test measuring exactly the 16 personality factors) for serious dating, it will be impossible to innovate and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry.

and this list of top papers.