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Homogamy in Masculinity–Femininity Is Positively Linked to Relationship Quality in Gay Male Couples from the Czech Republic

Archives of Sexual Behavior volume 46, pages 1349–1359 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

The main aims of this research were to test the similarity of masculinity–femininity in long-term male same-sex couples from the Czech Republic and to examine whether this similarity predicts higher relationship quality. In Study 1, participants (N = 30) and their partners completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and the Childhood Gender Nonconformity Scale (CGN). In Study 2, participants (N = 40) and their partners completed DAS and the Gender Diagnosticity Scale (GD). Results showed that the partners were no more alike than individuals paired at random in their CGN or GD, but greater similarity in CGN between partners increased Dyadic Cohesion (r = −.41 [−.71, −.02]) and Affectional Expression (r = −.38 [−.60, −.13]). Our results add to previous evidence showing that similarity in same-sex couples increased relationship quality. Although, on average, gay men were not coupled on the basis of homogamy in gender roles, their relationship quality is linked to the gender egalitarian model rather than to the gender stratified one. Thus, a widespread stereotype suggesting that same-sex partners are divided by different gender roles seems to be, at least in our sample from a Western society, rather incorrect.

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Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Preparation of this article was supported by the project “Sustainability for the National Institute of Mental Health,” under Grant Number LO1611, with a financial support from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic under the NPU I program. LMN and KB were supported by the Charles University Research Centre (UNCE 204004) and by the PRVOUK Program (Programy rozvoje vědních oblastí na Univerzitě Karlově v Praze) P20 at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University within the Institutional Support for Long-Term Development of Research Organizations from the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports. KB and JB were supported by the Grant agency of the Czech Republic (GA16-18891S). We owe our thanks to Timothy J. Wells for English proof-reading. We would also like to thank to all participants and reviewers for valuable advices and comments during the writing of this article.

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  1. Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, U Kříže 8, 158 00, Prague, Czech Republic

    Klára Bártová, Lenka Martinec Nováková & Jakub Binter

  2. National Institute of Mental Health, Topolová 748, Klecany, Czech Republic

    Klára Bártová, Zuzana Štěrbová, Lenka Martinec Nováková & Jakub Binter

  3. Institute of Sexology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Ke Karlovu 11, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Zuzana Štěrbová

  4. Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes 1721, CEP 05508-030, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella & Jaroslava Varella Valentova

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  1. Klára Bártová
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Bártová, K., Štěrbová, Z., Martinec Nováková, L. et al. Homogamy in Masculinity–Femininity Is Positively Linked to Relationship Quality in Gay Male Couples from the Czech Republic. Arch Sex Behav 46, 1349–1359 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0931-z

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Keywords

  • Male same-sex couples
  • Relationship quality
  • Assortative mating
  • Gender roles
  • Sexual orientation