People With Psychiatric Disorders May Be More Likely To Choose Partners Similar To Themselves

STAT (2/25, Samuel) reports that often individuals “choose, deliberately or unconsciously, romantic partners similar to themselves.” Now, according to the findings of a study published online Feb. 24 in JAMA Psychiatry, “that extends to people with mental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism.”

Researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing “the records of 700,000 individuals who had been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia, or substance abuse,” then assessing “how often these diagnoses correlated with that person’s spouse or partner having either the same psychiatric condition or a different psychiatric condition.”

Related Links:

— “In marriage, those with mental disorders seek out similar partners,” Leah Samuel, STAT, February 25, 2016.

Posted in In The News.