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Evidence of correlations between human partners based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of 22 traits and UK Biobank analysis of 133 traits

Nature Human Behaviour volume 7, pages 1568–1583 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Positive correlations between mates can increase trait variation and prevalence, as well as bias estimates from genetically informed study designs. While past studies of similarity between human mating partners have largely found evidence of positive correlations, to our knowledge, no formal meta-analysis has examined human partner correlations across multiple categories of traits. Thus, we conducted systematic reviews and random-effects meta-analyses of human male–female partner correlations across 22 traits commonly studied by psychologists, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, epidemiologists and geneticists. Using ScienceDirect, PubMed and Google Scholar, we incorporated 480 partner correlations from 199 peer-reviewed studies of co-parents, engaged pairs, married pairs and/or cohabitating pairs that were published on or before 16 August 2022. We also calculated 133 trait correlations using up to 79,074 male–female couples in the UK Biobank (UKB). Estimates of the 22 mean meta-analysed correlations ranged from rmeta = 0.08 (adjusted 95% CI = 0.03, 0.13) for extraversion to rmeta = 0.58 (adjusted 95% CI = 0.50, 0.64) for political values, with funnel plots showing little evidence of publication bias across traits. The 133 UKB correlations ranged from rUKB = −0.18 (adjusted 95% CI = −0.20, −0.16) for chronotype (being a ‘morning’ or ‘evening’ person) to rUKB = 0.87 (adjusted 95% CI = 0.86, 0.87) for birth year. Across analyses, political and religious attitudes, educational attainment and some substance use traits showed the highest correlations, while psychological (that is, psychiatric/personality) and anthropometric traits generally yielded lower but positive correlations. We observed high levels of between-sample heterogeneity for most meta-analysed traits, probably because of both systematic differences between samples and true differences in partner correlations across populations.

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Fig. 1: Point estimates of the mean meta-analysed random-effects partner correlations and UKB partner correlations for comparable traits.
Fig. 2: The UKB partner correlation point estimates for 133 traits grouped by category.

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Data availability

Studies included in the meta-analysis are listed in Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 and cited in Table 1, as well as in the supplementary note; studies excluded from the meta-analysis are listed in Supplementary Table 3. Raw data from the UK Biobank are not publicly available, but summary statistics for most traits are available on the UK Biobank website at https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/showcase/search.cgi. Note that there is no longer a Field ID corresponding to the co-location variable in the UKB and that the putative partner dataset we created cannot be publicly shared. As such, our UKB partner dataset cannot be directly used/recreated at this time. However, combinations of other variables (for example, inverse distance to the nearest major road) can potentially be used as proxies for co-location53, in conjunction with the code we have made available, to estimate partner pairs.

Code availability

The code for the UKB analyses can be found at https://github.com/JaredBalbona/UKB-AM-MetaAnalysis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Zorina-Lichtenwalter for help with ideas and feedback as the project developed. This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health R01 Grants MH130448 (M.C.K., J.V.B.) and MH100141 (M.C.K.), T32 Training Grant MH016880 (K.N.P), as well as by the National Institute on Drug Abuse T32 Training Grant T32DA017637 (T.B.H.). This work also used resources from the University of Colorado Boulder Research Computing Group, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Award Nos. ACI-1532235 and ACI-1532236), the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Tanya B. Horwitz, Jared V. Balbona.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Tanya B. Horwitz, Jared V. Balbona, Katie N. Paulich & Matthew C. Keller

  2. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Tanya B. Horwitz, Katie N. Paulich & Matthew C. Keller

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  1. Tanya B. Horwitz
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Contributions

T.B.H. contributed to study design, statistical analyses, manuscript writing/editing, assessment of meta-analysed studies, and creation of figures and tables; J.V.B. contributed to study design, statistical analyses, manuscript writing/editing, assessment of meta-analysed studies, and creation of figures and tables; K.N.P. contributed to manuscript editing, assessment of meta-analysed studies, and creation of tables; M.C.K. contributed to study design, statistical analyses, manuscript writing/editing, assessment of meta-analysed studies, and creation of tables.

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Correspondence to Tanya B. Horwitz or Matthew C. Keller.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks Laurence Howe, Fartein Torvik and Yayouk Willems for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Funnel plots for each meta-analysed trait.

The funnel plots in Extended Data Fig. 1a Smoking Status, Extended Data Fig. 1b Height, Extended Data Fig. 1c Smoking Quantity, Extended Data Fig. 1d Extraversion, Extended Data Fig. 1e Neuroticism, Extended Data Fig. 1f Openness, Extended Data Fig. 1g Conscientiousness, Extended Data Fig. 1h Drinking Quantity, Extended Data Fig. 1i Agreeableness, Extended Data Fig. 1j Intelligence Quotient, Extended Data Fig. 1k Waist-to-Hip Ratio, Extended Data Fig. 1l Educational Attainment, Extended Data Fig. 1m Depression, Extended Data Fig. 1n Diabetes, Extended Data Fig. 1o Generalized Anxiety, Extended Data Fig. 1p Political Values, Extended Data Fig. 1q Religiosity, Extended Data Fig. 1r Smoking Initiation, Extended Data Fig. 1s Smoking Cessation, Extended Data Fig. 1t Problematic Alcohol Use, Extended Data Fig. 1u Substance Use Disorder, and Extended Data Fig. 1v Body Mass Index are designed to assess possible publication bias for each meta-analysis. Here, the Fisher Z-transformed correlations are plotted against their respective standard errors. For dichotomous traits, standard error was estimated using the delta method (see main text).

Extended Data Fig. 2 Partner correlations and Bonferroni-Adjusted 95% confidence intervals for 133 traits in the UK Biobank.

The visualized traits represent partner correlations for all of the adequately-powered UK Biobank traits (out of an original 140). Each estimate is color-coded by the correlation type—Pearson (in blue), Spearman (in red), and Tetrachoric (in green), used for continuous, ordinal, and binary traits, respectively—with the lines depicting the Bonferroni-adjusted 95% confidence interval for each trait. Estimates are based on up to 79,074 pairs; Supplementary Table 4 includes the precise sample size for each trait along with the Bonferroni-adjusted p-values associated with the adjusted 95% confidence intervals depicted in this figure. See main text for description of specific analyses. Num Dep Episodes = Number of Depressive Episodes; Heel BMD = Heel Bone Mineral Density (in the form of a t-score); LDL = Direct Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol, CRP = C-reactive Protein; RBC = Red Blood Cell (Erythrocyte) Count; DBP = Diastolic Blood Pressure; CPD (All Participants) = Cigarettes per Day (Includes Current, Former, and Never Smokers); FEV1 Pred % = Forced Expiratory Volume in 1-Second (FEV1), Predicted Percentage; PEF= Peak Expiratory Flow; WBC = White Blood Cell (Leukocyte) Count; SBP = Systolic Blood Pressure; HDL = High-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol; CPD (Smokers Only) = Cigarettes per Day (Restricted to Current or Former Smokers); WHR = Waist-to-hip Ratio; BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate; FIQ = Fluid Intelligence Quotient; BMI = Body Mass Index; FVC = Forced Vital Capacity; Time to First Cig = Time to First Cigarette; EA = Educational Attainment.

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Horwitz, T.B., Balbona, J.V., Paulich, K.N. et al. Evidence of correlations between human partners based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of 22 traits and UK Biobank analysis of 133 traits. Nat Hum Behav 7, 1568–1583 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01672-z

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