Anthropology faculty members Kristin Snopkowski and Annemarie Hasnain recently published an article in Evolutionary Human Sciences titled, “Partner traits of women in arranged and self-choice marriages.”
The paper examines the traits of husbands in arranged marriages compared to self-choice marriages. Previous survey research suggests that the traits of husbands preferred by a woman for her own marriage differ from the traits of a husband preferred by her parents for an arranged marriage, but little research has actually examined the differences in the husbands of these two marriage types.
Snopkowski and Hasnain compared the characteristics of husbands of women in self-choice and arranged marriages using data from the longitudinal Indonesia Family Life Survey, which surveyed families between 1993 and 2015. Results showed that the husbands of women in arranged marriages had lower levels of completed education than those from self-choice marriages, counter to predictions. There were no significant differences in the husband’s wealth prior to marriage or the proportion of couples who were of the same religion. An examination of personality traits showed little difference based on arranged marriage status. The only prediction that had significant support was that couples in arranged marriages were more likely to share an ethnic background than couples in self-choice marriages.
Snopkowski and Hasnain conclude by arguing that the characteristics of husbands vary little by arranged versus self-choice marriage status, contrary to previous survey findings.