Fudan University, Department of Psychology Shanghai, China.
University of Nicosia, Department of Social Sciences, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Evol Psychol. 2024 Jan-Mar;22(1):14747049241234291. doi: 10.1177/14747049241234291.
Parents want daughters- and sons-in-law who are similar to their children, and children want spouses who are similar to themselves. In turn, the question arises: Do parents agree among themselves on how much similarity they desire in their prospective in-laws concerning their children? Moreover, do parents and children agree on the level of similarity they desire in an in-law and a spouse, respectively? Furthermore, to exercise an in-law preference for similarity, parents need to assess how their children score in traits deemed desirable in a spouse. This raises the question of whether mothers and fathers perceive their children similarly, and whether they perceive their children in the same way their children perceive themselves in these traits. The current study aimed to address these questions using a sample of 356 families from China, focusing on four desirable traits: good looks, good providers, good economic prospects, and good family background. Our results indicated that parents preferred sons- and daughters-in-law who were similar to their children, and mothers and fathers concurred on the level of similarity they desired between their children and their in-laws. Additionally, parents desired as much similarity between their children and their in-laws as their children desired between themselves and their spouses. Furthermore, we found that mothers and fathers concurred on how they perceive their children across the four desirable traits. Finally, both parents scored their children higher in these traits than their children scored themselves.
父母希望女儿和女婿与自己的孩子相似，而孩子希望配偶与自己相似。反过来，就会出现这样一个问题：父母之间是否就他们对未来亲家的期望相似度达成一致？此外，父母和孩子是否就他们对姻亲和配偶的期望相似度达成一致？更进一步，为了行使姻亲相似度偏好，父母需要评估他们的孩子在被认为是配偶理想特质方面的得分。这就提出了一个问题，即父母是否以相同的方式看待自己的孩子，以及他们是否以孩子看待自己的方式来看待孩子在这些特质方面的表现。本研究使用来自中国的 356 个家庭样本，旨在探讨这些问题，重点关注四个理想特质：外貌、经济条件、良好的经济前景和良好的家庭背景。我们的研究结果表明，父母倾向于选择与自己的孩子相似的儿子和女儿的姻亲，并且父母双方在他们的孩子和姻亲之间期望的相似度水平上达成一致。此外，父母期望他们的孩子和姻亲之间有和他们期望自己的孩子和配偶之间一样多的相似之处。此外，我们发现父母在如何看待孩子在四个理想特质方面的看法是一致的。最后，父母双方在这些特质上给孩子的评分都高于孩子给自己的评分。
