Mother is role model in son's choice of wife: study

If a man's mother is highly educated, chances are the woman he marries will have a similar education, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Iowa found that nearly 80 percent of high-achieving men who were sons of mothers with college degrees married women with a similar education.

And 62 percent of men whose mothers had graduate degrees tied the knot with a graduate degree holder.

"These young men look up to their mothers as role models. They grew up in a family where their mothers were educated women," sociologist Christine Whelan, who conducted the study, said in an interview.

"For an increasing number of these men ... when they make their own choices about someone who they think will be a good wife in the future or a good mother, they go back to their role models."

Whelan and her colleague Christie Boxer studied data on 3,700 people who took part in a survey about men and the educational level of the women close to them.

All the men surveyed were considered to be high achievers in their 20s and 30s who earned salaries in the top 10 percent for their age group.

The researchers found that more than 70 percent of the men had mothers who worked while they were growing up, and that the same group was twice as likely to marry women who made $50,000 or more a year.

Whelan, who interviewed more than 100 men and has written a book entitled "Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women," found many men welcomed the idea of a working spouse.

"They are increasingly excited about the idea that they won't have to be the only bread winner in the family, so these men are attracted to women who have a job and express a continuing interest to work," Whelan explained.

一项最新研究发现，如果妈妈的受教育水平较高，那么儿子选择的配偶往往拥有相似的教育背景。

艾奥瓦大学的研究人员发现，在母亲受过高等教育的成功男士中，近80%的人选择的配偶都拥有相似的教育背景。

而在母亲为研究生的男士中，有62%所找的伴侣也是研究生。

开展该研究的社会学家克里斯丁•韦兰在接受采访时说：“这些年轻男士都以他们的母亲为榜样。他们的母亲都是受过良好教育的女性。”

“现在这样的男人越来越多，他们择偶时，往往会以母亲作为贤妻良母的标准。”

韦兰及其同事克里斯蒂•波克瑟研究了一项共有3700人参加的调查数据，该调查主要针对的是男性及其身边女性的教育水平。

所有参与调查的男性都是二三十岁的成功人士，他们的收入水平在同龄人中位居前列。

研究人员发现，在这些成功男士中，超过70%的人的母亲在他们成长过程中一直都上班，而这些男士选择年薪不少于5万美元的女性为配偶的可能性为一般人的两倍。

韦兰发现，很多男性都希望自己的伴侣有工作。韦兰曾采访过100多位男士并著有《为什么聪明男人选择聪明女人》一书。

她说：“男人们越来越希望自己不是家里唯一挣钱养家的人，所以他们喜欢有工作而且愿意一直工作的女性。”