No, opposites do not attract!

Humans generally do not choose their partners randomly, but rather mate 'assortatively', choosing people with similar traits, a new study has found.

Among the highest ranking qualities people look for in a potential partner are intelligence and educational attainment, the study published in the journal Intelligence said, adding that the choice has a significance at a DNA level.

"Our findings show strong evidence for the presence of genetic assortative mating for education. The consequences of assortative mating on education and cognitive abilities are relevant for society, and for the genetic make-up and therefore the evolutionary development of subsequent generations," said David Hugh-Jones, lecturer at University of East Anglia (UEA) in Britain.

However, assortative mating pattern could increase genetic and social inequality in future generations, since children of such couples are more unequal genetically than those of people who mate more randomly, the researchers argued.

"Assortative mating on inheritable traits that are indicative of socio-economic status, such as educational achievement, increases the genetic variance of characteristics in the population.

This may increase social inequality, for example with respect to education or income," Hugh-Jones added.