Parental Attachment, Perceived Parental-Partner Similarity, and Relationship Satisfaction among Indian Emerging Adults

Theories of mate selection debate about whether people tend to choose partners based on similarities to their parents. The present study aimed to address whether a similarity in how people perceive their parents and their partners is associated with the relationship between parental attachment and relationship satisfaction by adopting a template-matching framework. Participants were urban, emerging adults in India (n = 263, 137 male and 126 female) who were measured for how they perceive the traits of a parental figure, traits of a partner, attachment to the parent, and relationship satisfaction with the partner. Data analysis was conducted using correlations, linear regressions, and moderation analyses. Findings show that perceived neuroticism of parents was associated with perceived neuroticism of the partner. Additionally, perceptions of neuroticism of parents predicted neuroticism in partners. Perceived agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness to experience moderated the relationship between parental attachment and relationship satisfaction. A gender difference with a small effect size in perceptions of similarity was observed for openness to experience and agreeableness. Finally, perceived agreeableness also moderated the relationship between parental attachment and relationship satisfaction for men and women separately. However, for men, perceived neuroticism also significantly moderated this relationship. The findings imply that, to an extent, the more emerging adults perceive similarities of certain traits in their parents and partners, the higher likelihood that their attachment to their parent predicts relationship satisfaction with their partner. Limitations and future directions have been discussed.