Homophily in online dating

Abstract

Psychologists have found that actual and perceived similarity between potential romantic partners in demographics, attitudes, values, and attractiveness correlate positively with attraction and, later, relationship satisfaction. Online dating systems provide a new way for users to identify and communicate with potential partners, but the information they provide differs dramatically from what a person might glean from face-to-face interaction. An analysis of dyadic interactions of approximately 65,000 heterosexual users of an online dating system in the U.S. showed that, despite these differences, users of the system sought people like them much more often than chance would predict, just as in the offline world. The users' preferences were most strongly sameseeking for attributes related to the life course, like marital history and whether one wants children, but they also demonstrated significant homophily in self-reported physical build, physical attractiveness, and smoking habits.

The Social Demography of Internet Dating in the United States

“…Unlike prior work on Internet dating, our description and analysis are based on a nationally representative sample, not a sample drawn solely from an Internet dating site or Internet users (e.g., Fiore and Donath, 2005). We argue that sociodemographic factors select who will be at risk for Internet dating.…”

“…In those studies, singles met in chat rooms and carried out long‐distance relationships in cyberspace, often never meeting in person (Ben‐Ze'ev, 2004; Cooper and Sportolari, 1997). Extant work explores a variety of topics, providing important insights about presentation of self and identity (Ellison, Heino, and Gibbs, 2006; Whitty, 2008), the psychological correlates of online relationships (Anderson, 2005; Donn and Sherman, 2002), and the utility of mate selection theories of homophily (Fiore and Donath, 2005) and complementary needs (Hitsch, Hortaçsu, and Ariely, 2006). This research, however, focuses solely on individuals who use the Internet or are already active Internet daters.…”

Collective Behavior of social Networking Sites

“…Essentially, we are more likely to connect to others who share certain similarities with us. This phenomenon has been observed not only in the many processes of a physical world, but also in online systems [7], [8]. Homophily results in behavior cor-relations between connected friends.…”

The Role of Cognitive Abilities in Assortative Mating: Partner Preferences of Young Adults

“…Novou linií výzkumu výběrového párování jsou "měkčí" ukazatele typu fyzický vzhled, osobnost, postoje, životní styl a kognitivní schopnosti. Ty se podstatně hůře měří než výše uvedené sociodemografické parametry, přitom výzkum online seznamování naznačuje, že při výběru partnera mohou být vnímány jako ještě důležitější [Fiore, Donath 2005]. Nalézáme například statisticky signifikantní souvislost mezi výškou a váhou partnerů [Speakman et al 2007;Whitaker et al 2010] a atraktivitou [Hunt, Eastwick, Finkel 2015].…”

“…V současné sociologické literatuře jsou preference při výběru partnera zkoumány dvěma způsoby: tradičně, prostřednictvím dotazování na důležitost vlastností partnera, a nově také zkoumáním prvotní fáze procesu výběru partnera za využití dat z internetových seznamovacích portálů [Fiore, Donath 2005;Potarca, Mills 2015;Skopek, Schulz, Blossfeld 2011]. Předpokládá se přitom, že údaje o prvním kontaktu při internetovém seznamování a odpovědi na něj jsou dobrým indikátorem preferencí a aspirací při výběru partnera [Skopek, Schulz, Blossfeld 2011].…”