Publication Details
Does parental similarity degree affect the development of their offspring?
Králík Miroslav, doc. RNDr., Ph.D. (VUT)
Klíma Ondřej, Ing., Ph.D. (DCGM)
Čuta Martin, Mgr., Ph.D.
assortative mating; non-random mating; mate choice; preferences; similarity;
human face; growth curve; offspring
Similarity in facial and other physical characteristics has been recognized as
one aspect of reproductive mate choice in humans. Despite the fact that parental
similarity degree may affect offspring already in the early stages of their
prenatal development, just a very few empirical studies have focused on the
consequences of this non-random process so far. This study included three goals:
(1) to test the hypothesis of body assortative mating in humans, (2) to find
a relationship between physical similarity of parents and the growth curves of
their offspring and (3) to find out how parental similarity affects the growth of
offspring. Therefore, the similarities of parents in physical features were
analysed in relation to the descriptors of the growth curves of their offspring
(n = 184 mother-father-child triads from the Brno Growth Study database). In
comparison to randomly generated pairs, real partners were not more similar to
each other in any of the observed trait. However, some physical features
correlated (mostly positively) between partners. Relationships between physical
similarity of parents and the descriptors of the growth curves of their offspring
were found. However, parental similarity in various features affected the growth
of their offspring differently.
@article{BUT179368,
author="Linda {Koníková} and Miroslav {Králík} and Ondřej {Klíma} and Martin {Čuta}",
title="Does parental similarity degree affect the development of their offspring?",
journal="Anthropologia integra",
year="2022",
volume="13",
number="1",
pages="15--29",
doi="10.5817/AI2022-1-15",
issn="1804-6657",
url="https://journals.muni.cz/anthropologia_integra/issue/view/1849/598"
}