Seki Motohide, Ihara Yasuo, Aoki Kenichi
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Ann Hum Biol. 2012 Jan;39(1):28-35. doi: 10.3109/03014460.2011.635695. Epub 2011 Dec 5.
Homogamy for body height has been repeatedly documented in Western societies. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism is unclear and the reasons for its apparent absence in non-Western societies remain unexplained.
This study investigates spousal correlation and mate preference for height in the Japanese population.
This study analyses self-reported data on the height of individuals, their parents and their ideal marriage partners, collected by a series of questionnaires on university students.
In contrast to a previous study, this study found a significant positive correlation between the heights of Japanese spouses, after controlling for age. It also found a positive correlation between the heights of subjects and of their ideal partners, suggesting that an individual's self-referent preference may contribute to the observed homogamy for height. However, a subject's preference is also influenced by the height of his/her opposite-sex--but not same-sex--parent, where this effect is more prominent in male subjects.
This study shows that homogamy for body height is present in the current Japanese population and that it may in part result from an individual's preference. It also indicates a possible role of a sexual imprinting-like mechanism in human mate choice.
身高上的同型匹配在西方社会已被反复证实。然而，其潜在机制尚不清楚，且在非西方社会中明显不存在这种现象的原因仍未得到解释。
本研究调查日本人群中配偶身高相关性及对身高的择偶偏好。
本研究分析了通过一系列针对大学生的问卷调查收集的关于个体自身、其父母及理想婚姻伴侣身高的自我报告数据。
与之前的一项研究不同，本研究发现，在控制年龄后，日本配偶的身高之间存在显著正相关。研究还发现，研究对象与其理想伴侣的身高之间存在正相关，这表明个体的自我参照偏好可能导致了观察到的身高同型匹配现象。然而，一个人的偏好也受到其异性（而非同性）父母身高的影响，这种影响在男性研究对象中更为显著。
本研究表明，当前日本人群中存在身高同型匹配现象，且这可能部分源于个体偏好。研究还表明，类似性印记的机制在人类配偶选择中可能发挥作用。
