Die Menschen wählen nicht in erster Linie Partner, die auf ihrem tatsächlichen Bildungsniveau basieren. Stattdessen stimmen sie in der Regel mit Menschen überein, die aus ähnlichen familiären Hintergründen und Umgebungen stammen, die der Erreichung einer höheren Bildung förderlich sind. Diese Art der Partnerauswahl wird als „soziale Homogamie“ bezeichnet.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60483-0

From the linked article:

Major study reshapes our understanding of assortative mating and its generational impact

A large-scale study using Norwegian registry data provides evidence that the similarity in education levels between partners is mainly the result of shared family environments and associated social factors, not simply individual educational attainment. The research, published in Nature Communications, introduces a new framework for studying how people end up with partners who are similar to them, and how these patterns influence the transmission of education from parents to children.

People often marry someone with a similar level of education. Researchers have long observed this trend and debated what drives it. One possibility is that individuals deliberately choose partners who have the same educational background. Another is that people who come from similar environments—such as the same neighborhoods, social classes, or family cultures—are more likely to meet and form relationships. These ideas are not mutually exclusive, and both could influence how couples form.

The results indicate that **people do not primarily choose partners based on their actual education levels. Instead, they tend to match with people who come from similar family backgrounds and environments that are conducive to achieving higher education. This kind of partner selection is referred to as “social homogamy.”**

The estimated similarity in the underlying traits that influence partner selection was stronger than the similarity in observed education. Based on their models, the researchers found that only about 38 percent of the correlation between partners in education was due to genetic similarity. A much larger portion was explained by shared family environments, particularly those shared between siblings.