Psychologists from the University of Padua in Italy identified 24 factors for romantic compatibility of partners. The results of the research have been published magazine Personality and Individual Differences. The results of the scientists’ work showed that people perceive similarities in lifestyle, views and moral principles as the main aspects of romantic compatibility.
Men were more concerned with similarities in emotions and activities, while women emphasized similarities in lifestyle, views, morals, appearance, and empathy. According to the study’s authors, this is because women have traditionally been more invested in raising children and are therefore more selective about their partners.
“Most research in this area tends to focus on desirable mate traits. Despite its obvious relevance, the issue of compatibility is overlooked. This topic is quite complex because people can feel compatible not only when they are similar in terms of X and Y, but when they are opposite in terms of Z registered.
About 300 people participated in the study, which identified the most important points for them in terms of compatibility from the 24 points presented by the scientists. These factors included lifestyle, opinions, humor, origin, job, social status, values, place of residence, and others. Overall, participants preferred partners who were similar to them in terms of lifestyle, views on issues that mattered to them, and moral values. But they didn’t care much about things like education, religion, or intelligence.
“The biggest takeaway from our study is that people tend to feel more compatible with partners who are similar to them in most traits. But if we were talking about short-term relationships, then the participants were most concerned with looks and intelligence,” he said.