ever dated.

Hey guys Tara here for Dnews - with new evidence to support the idea that opposites really

don't attract.

Psychologically speaking, the adage is considered a myth - since people are generally more attracted

to those who share their personality traits and beliefs. Biologically, however, spousal

mating has always been considered to be pretty random. Until now.

Researchers at the University of California studied the genomes of 825 heterosexual married

couples, and found that spouses in those relationships, shared more genetic similarities than random

pairs from the same population. Not only that, but couples who share an increase in genetic

similarity by at least one standard deviation - are 15% more likely to get married.

This is a widely known phenomenon called Assortative Mating, and it applies not just to our genes,

but also to our behaviors and physical appearances. A good example would be how people tend to

date others who have similar body types to them.

It's not really clear WHY this happens. But the researchers in this study chalked it up

to 3 possible explanations: Birth region, ethnicity, and education.

It's been shown that people born in the same geographical area, are more likely to marry

and share genetic markers. Which extends to ethnicities as well.

But even after controlling for those factors, they still found a high amount of genetic

similarities between couples. So they looked at education. It's generally

known that people with similar educational backgrounds tend to marry each other - that's

called Educational Assortative Mating. And studies have proven that education level is

at least partially tied to your genetic make-up, so it makes sense that people with similar

educations would be more genetically similar. Sure enough, the authors crunched some numbers

- and discovered that education accounted for up to two thirds of that 15% increase

in genetic similarity - though it's unclear which one influences the other.

How do you guys feel about this? Obviously there are exceptions to every rule, but do

you tend to go for people who are similar to you, or people who are very different?

Let us know in the comments down below, and as always - thank you guys for watching!