ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the major theories from both the psychological and sociological perspectives, and considers the complexity of the issue is beyond the coping of a single paradigm. Psychoanalyts were the first ones to concern the impact of parents on the children’s choice of partner. In the Netherlands, M. Lesnik-Oberstein and L. Cohen analysed 177 volunteer couples on several psychological dimensions with the use of a number of tests. Psychological process or interaction is the focus of a “snapshot” without due considerations being given to the socio-economic situations under which the psychological process is taking place. The psycho-social context under which acquaintance and intimacy developed is largely unknown for the patients. Choice of partner is constrained by the socio-economic situation that one is in. People are more likely to choose partners who are similar in socioeconomic background. In a sense, one’s tangible resources expand or restrict one’s available pool of potential mates.
