John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellow Program for 1981 and Prize Fellow Laureate Award

Abstract

While numerous studies have reported differential assortative mating coefficients for personality traits, little research has centered on cross‐sample comparisons to determine their degree of generalizability. The present investigation examines the assortative mating coefficients for scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) from five separate studies. An examination of these patterns of significant coefficients offers little support for this cross‐sample generalizability. No significant correlations resulted between these studies in their coefficients, even when the unreliability of the different measures was controlled. It is concluded that there is little evidence to support statements of differential importance in assortment for personality variables beyond the sample under investigation.