As soon as I began writing the weekly sex and dating story, I knew I had to write a post about this article I read on CNN awhile ago. It spoke about how a lot of times, you end up dating or marrying someone like your mother or father.

I found this particularly amusing, as my friends constantly tease me that I have a crush on a guy who is a lot like my Dad.

Anyway, the article said that many of us choose partners similar to our parents because it’s a comfort thing. A psychotherapist in the article said that “when you grow up familiar with a certain type of person, you’re attracted to that same type of person because it feels comfortable, whether you like it or not.”

You know how when you meet someone and start dating and you say, “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life?” Apparently that’s what we mean, it’s like they’re almost extensions of our parents, the article said.

An even scarier statistic in the report said that parents’ physical and intellectual traits may have influence on who you date. A Hungarian researcher studied facial features of 52 families and found a correlation between men and fathers-in-law and women and mothers-in-law.

Sometimes though, marrying someone like a parent is not always a good thing. CNN reported that some individuals choose a significant other to help solve unhappy childhoods. Basically, us girls who didn’t have good relationships with their dad are likely to pick husbands who are emotionally uninvolved and guys whose moms were very critical are likely to choose women who are very picky with them.

This is a very bad idea, because (obviously) if it didn’t work when you were growing up, surely marrying someone with a similar sentiment isn’t going to work either.

The article also offers some pointers if you’re in a relationship with someone like your Mom or Dad:

- Don’t jump into marriage right away.
- Don’t be afraid to disagree at times.
- Talk about how you want to plan your live (i.e. kids, where you’ll live, etc.)

I find studies like these very interesting. I don’t know about you, but whenever I read them I start thinking about my own friends and comparing whose dating to whether or not they’re dating their parent. Are you dating someone a lot like your mom or dad?
What makes that so? Do you have any flack from friends about it? Do you feel like you could marry someone like your mom or dad someday?