The article examines how different similarity patterns between partners influence relationship quality, highlighting that kindness and attractiveness, especially when perceived as higher in the partner, predict greater satisfaction, while similarity on value-based traits like political orientation matters more in some contexts. It uses a large, cross-cultural sample to show that patterns vary by trait and culture, with partner idealization playing a key role for socially valued traits. Overall, the findings challenge simple opposites-attract notions and emphasize trait-specific rules in romantic compatibility.

This piece is of interest to psychology readers because it integrates cross-cultural data, trait-level analyses, and perception effects to illuminate how subjective evaluations shape relationship satisfaction, contributing to broader understandings of interpersonal dynamics and mate preferences.

Article Title: Why opposites don’t attract: A global study reveals the true rules of romantic compatibility

Link to PsyPost Article: https://nolinkpreview.com/www.psypost.org/why-opposites-dont-attract-a-global-study-reveals-the-true-rules-of-romantic-compatibility/

#romanticcompatibility #partneridealization #relationshipquality #kindness #attractiveness #politicalorientation #culturaldifferences #WEIRDstudies #crossculturalpsychology #relationshipperception

Cannabis and alcohol use patterns linked to couples’ relationship quality

Heavy cannabis users report lower next-day relationship satisfaction when combining cannabis and alcohol. But light cannabis users show no significant change in satisfaction from their own or their partner’s substance use.

PsyPost

Here is one talk of one of our lab members on the measurement of #romantic #relationshipquality.

It's a project that is amongst my favorites, because when picking a scale to measure romantic relationship quality, I never know which one to pick!

I felt we made real progress on the topic with this project and another study will be added soon!

Check out the talk here: https://corelab.blog/relationshipquality/

The preprint is available here: https://psyarxiv.com/w32dc/

#love #measurement #psaryxiv

Migs’ Talk on Lack of Construct Validity and Item-Content Overlap in the Assessment of Romantic Relationship Quality

On Thursday, May 11, 2022, Migs Silan is giving a talk for the EASP-IARR joint symposium on What’s Love Got To Do With It: Diversity in Close/Romantic Relationships. His presentation is available o…