Amy (similar individuals marrying one another) has been a long-standing issue across many fields of scientific inquiry. Using a nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic white US adults from the Health and Retirement Study and information from 1.7 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms, we compare genetic similarity among married couples to noncoupled pairs in the population. We provide evidence for genetic assortative mating in this population but the strength of this association is substantially smaller than the strength of educational assortative mating in the same sample. Furthermore, genetic similarity explains at most 10 of the assortative mating by education levels. Results are replicated using comparable data from the TGR-1202 price Framingham Heart Study.homophilymarry than genetically dissimilar persons both inclusive of and net of ethnic intramarriage? Or are spousal genotypes uncorrelated, as is sometimes assumed? Second, how does the magnitude of GAM compare with other phenotypically-based measures of assortative mating in the population–such as education? Third, to what extent is phenotypic assortative mating linked to GAM in the population? ResultsEstimates of EAM and GAM. EAM and GAM estimates from the| random mating | genetic homogamyssortative mating occurs when individuals exhibit a preference for those who are either similar, (homogamy) or dissimilar (heterogamy) to themselves. Two expressions–“birds of a feather flock together” and “opposites attract”–are used to explain friendship and spousal pairings but denote opposite assumptions regarding the direction of selection. Critically, no existing research has quantified the degree to which individuals who select into a marriage are genetically similar to one another across the entire genome. Quantifying genome-wide genetic assortative mating (GAM) in the population is important for methodological and substantive reasons. First, statistical models in genetic epidemiology, such as Hardy einberg equilibrium, often assume random mating to forecast population allele frequencies, homozygosity rates, and other parameters of interest across generations (1) and behavior genetics models assume random mating to calculate heritability estimates (2). Second, social scientists have long studied the causes and consequences of assortative mating on a number of phenotypic measures such as height, education, religiosity, and political partisanship (3?). Although there is research with a focus on the implications of genetic homogamy for phenotypic assortative mating (6), most studies of assortative mating have not considered the possibility that GAM may underlie phenotypic sorting. Social factors clearly limit opportunities to interact with people of different backgrounds (7, 8) but there is no study that simultaneously estimates educational assortative mating (EAM) and GAM in the population. Although much is known about changes in the nature of assortative mating over the past 50 y (5, 8, 9), little is known about the relationship between GAM and EAM. We focus on EAM Tulathromycin custom synthesis because it has received the largest amount of attention in the assortative mating literature (4) and, equally important, research has shown that educational attainment reflects genetic influences (10, 11). No existing study has used genomewide data among spousal pairs to quantify GAM in the population. This observation coupled with the potential bias caused by GAM in traditional heritability estimates (12) makes this line of.Amy (similar individuals marrying one another) has been a long-standing issue across many fields of scientific inquiry. Using a nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic white US adults from the Health and Retirement Study and information from 1.7 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms, we compare genetic similarity among married couples to noncoupled pairs in the population. We provide evidence for genetic assortative mating in this population but the strength of this association is substantially smaller than the strength of educational assortative mating in the same sample. Furthermore, genetic similarity explains at most 10 of the assortative mating by education levels. Results are replicated using comparable data from the Framingham Heart Study.homophilymarry than genetically dissimilar persons both inclusive of and net of ethnic intramarriage? Or are spousal genotypes uncorrelated, as is sometimes assumed? Second, how does the magnitude of GAM compare with other phenotypically-based measures of assortative mating in the population–such as education? Third, to what extent is phenotypic assortative mating linked to GAM in the population? ResultsEstimates of EAM and GAM. EAM and GAM estimates from the| random mating | genetic homogamyssortative mating occurs when individuals exhibit a preference for those who are either similar, (homogamy) or dissimilar (heterogamy) to themselves. Two expressions–“birds of a feather flock together” and “opposites attract”–are used to explain friendship and spousal pairings but denote opposite assumptions regarding the direction of selection. Critically, no existing research has quantified the degree to which individuals who select into a marriage are genetically similar to one another across the entire genome. Quantifying genome-wide genetic assortative mating (GAM) in the population is important for methodological and substantive reasons. First, statistical models in genetic epidemiology, such as Hardy einberg equilibrium, often assume random mating to forecast population allele frequencies, homozygosity rates, and other parameters of interest across generations (1) and behavior genetics models assume random mating to calculate heritability estimates (2). Second, social scientists have long studied the causes and consequences of assortative mating on a number of phenotypic measures such as height, education, religiosity, and political partisanship (3?). Although there is research with a focus on the implications of genetic homogamy for phenotypic assortative mating (6), most studies of assortative mating have not considered the possibility that GAM may underlie phenotypic sorting. Social factors clearly limit opportunities to interact with people of different backgrounds (7, 8) but there is no study that simultaneously estimates educational assortative mating (EAM) and GAM in the population. Although much is known about changes in the nature of assortative mating over the past 50 y (5, 8, 9), little is known about the relationship between GAM and EAM. We focus on EAM because it has received the largest amount of attention in the assortative mating literature (4) and, equally important, research has shown that educational attainment reflects genetic influences (10, 11). No existing study has used genomewide data among spousal pairs to quantify GAM in the population. This observation coupled with the potential bias caused by GAM in traditional heritability estimates (12) makes this line of.