SIMILARITY IN MARRIED-COUPLES - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF MENTAL ABILITIES AND RIGIDITY-FLEXIBILITY

Longitudinal changes in couple similarity on the Primary Mental Abilit ies and the Test of Behavioral Rigidity were studied over 7-year inter vals from 1956 to 1984 in 169 couples from the Seattle Longitudinal St udy. Positive, initial intraclass spousal correlations were significan t for verbal meaning, inductive reasoning, word fluency, educational a ptitude, intellectual aptitude, attitudinal flexibility, psychomotor s peed, and social responsibility, as well as age and education. After a ge and education had been controlled, significant increases in spousal similarity were found for verbal meaning and intellectual ability ove r 14 years and for attitudinal flexibility over 21 years. The higher f unctioning spouses' word fluency influenced the lower functioning spou ses' verbal meaning and word fluency over time. Couples who became mor e similar over time involved husbands in higher occupations and wives with fewer changes in profession.