Csajbók Zsófia, Fořt Jakub, Jonason Peter K, Havlíček Jan, Binter Jakub, Štěrbová Zuzana
Department of Psychology and Life Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Pátkova 5, 182 00, Prague 8, Czech Republic.
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 17;15(1):9143. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-93065-7.
Couples often resemble each other in characteristics like depression, but the reasons for this homogamy (i.e., similarity) remain unclear. We investigated two potential mechanisms: preference for a self-similar partner and convergence (i.e., increasing similarity) over time. In a nationally representative sample of 2,793 Czech individuals who we surveyed three times in one year, we examined self-reports of participants', their ideal partners', and their actual partners' "pessimism and depressiveness". Participants preferred partners less depressive than themselves, yet their actual partners were more depressive than desired. Those who ended their relationships showed a greater ideal-versus-actual partner discrepancy than those who stayed together. In stable relationships, individuals adjusted their ideal preferences to align more closely with their actual partners over time. We identified four relationship classes with latent class growth modeling based on self and partner evaluations: both non-depressive, both depressive, self depressive and partner non-depressive, and self non-depressive and partner depressive. Romantic relationships were most stable when both partners were non-depressive and most likely to dissolve when both were depressive. While we failed to detect convergence overall, we found it within heterogamous (i.e., dissimilar) classes. Overall, our findings suggest that homogamy and heterogamy in depressiveness are complexly associated with relationship maintenance.
夫妻在抑郁等特征上往往彼此相似，但这种同质性（即相似性）的原因尚不清楚。我们研究了两种潜在机制：对与自己相似的伴侣的偏好以及随着时间推移的趋同（即日益相似）。在一项具有全国代表性的样本中，我们对2793名捷克人在一年内进行了三次调查，考察了参与者自己、他们理想伴侣以及实际伴侣的“悲观和抑郁程度”的自我报告。参与者更喜欢比自己抑郁程度低的伴侣，然而他们的实际伴侣比期望的更抑郁。那些结束关系的人比起维持关系的人，理想伴侣与实际伴侣之间的差异更大。在稳定的关系中，随着时间推移，个体调整他们的理想偏好，使其与实际伴侣更紧密地一致。我们基于自我和伴侣评估，通过潜在类别增长模型确定了四类关系：双方都不抑郁、双方都抑郁、自我抑郁而伴侣不抑郁、自我不抑郁而伴侣抑郁。当双方都不抑郁时，浪漫关系最稳定；当双方都抑郁时，关系最容易破裂。虽然我们总体上未检测到趋同现象，但在异质（即不相似）类别中发现了趋同。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，抑郁方面的同质性和异质性与关系维持复杂相关。
