assortative mating

noun

Animal Behavior, Psychology.

1. the reproductive pairing of individuals that have more traits in common than would likely be the case if mating were random (disassortative mating ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of assortative mating¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

People tend to marry along socioeconomic lines in a practice known as “assortative mating.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Professor Melinda Mills, senior author and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at Oxford Population Health said, 'As well as reinforcing demographic research on assortative mating and other socioeconomic factors linked to childlessness, this paper underscores the necessity for interdisciplinary research and enhanced public health emphasis on addressing early-life diseases among both men and women in relation to childlessness.'

Read more on Science Daily

From our database of 413,980 mate pairs in the U.K. and Denmark, we found evidence of cross-trait assortative mating for many traits — for instance, an individual's time spent in formal schooling was correlated not only with their mate's educational attainment, but also with many other characteristics, including height, smoking behaviors and risk for different diseases.

Read more on Salon

Cross-trait assortative mating shapes the genome.

Read more on Salon

Cross-trait assortative mating means that the genes you inherit from one parent will be correlated with those you inherit from the other.

Read more on Salon