The Relation Between Big Five Personality Traits and Relationship Formation Through Matchmaking

Liselotte Visser; Ron Pat-El; Johan Lataster; Jacques van Lankveld; Nele Jacobs

doi:10.3390/psycholint7020052

The Relation Between Big Five Personality Traits and Relationship Formation Through Matchmaking

Liselotte Visser^*
, Ron Pat-El
, Johan Lataster
, Jacques van Lankveld
, Nele Jacobs

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Previous research has linked Big Five personality traits—agreeableness, openness
to experience, neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness—to relationship initiation in speed dating and relationship quality in long-term relationships. However, little is known about their role in matchmaking, where a matchmaker selects potential partners based on individual preferences and guides the dating process. This study examined whether the Big Five personality traits predict relationship formation in a matchmaking context. The sample included 1704 participants (48.5% men, 51.5% women; mean age = 62.5 years) living in the Netherlands. Personality was measured at baseline using the NEO-FFI questionnaire. Relationship formation success was defined as being in a relationship for at least three months. None of the Big Five traits predicted matchmaking success. Personality traits did not significantly predict relationship success in professionally guided matchmaking, suggesting that personality may play a limited role in this particular dating context.

Original language	English
Article number	52
Number of pages	14
Journal	Psychology International
Volume	7
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/psycholint7020052
Publication status	Published - 13 Jun 2025

Keywords

Big Five personality; relationship initiation; matchmaking; older adults; relationship formation

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10.3390/psycholint7020052Licence: CC BY

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title = "The Relation Between Big Five Personality Traits and Relationship Formation Through Matchmaking",

abstract = "Previous research has linked Big Five personality traits{\textemdash}agreeableness, openness to experience, neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness{\textemdash}to relationship initiation in speed dating and relationship quality in long-term relationships. However, little is known about their role in matchmaking, where a matchmaker selects potential partners based on individual preferences and guides the dating process. This study examined whether the Big Five personality traits predict relationship formation in a matchmaking context. The sample included 1704 participants (48.5\% men, 51.5\% women; mean age = 62.5 years) living in the Netherlands. Personality was measured at baseline using the NEO-FFI questionnaire. Relationship formation success was defined as being in a relationship for at least three months. None of the Big Five traits predicted matchmaking success. Personality traits did not significantly predict relationship success in professionally guided matchmaking, suggesting that personality may play a limited role in this particular dating context.",

keywords = "Big Five personality; relationship initiation; matchmaking; older adults; relationship formation",

author = "Liselotte Visser and Ron Pat-El and Johan Lataster and \{van Lankveld\}, Jacques and Nele Jacobs",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

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doi = "10.3390/psycholint7020052",

language = "English",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - The Relation Between Big Five Personality Traits and Relationship Formation Through Matchmaking

AU - Visser, Liselotte

AU - Pat-El, Ron

AU - Lataster, Johan

AU - van Lankveld, Jacques

AU - Jacobs, Nele

PY - 2025/6/13

Y1 - 2025/6/13

N2 - Previous research has linked Big Five personality traits—agreeableness, openness to experience, neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness—to relationship initiation in speed dating and relationship quality in long-term relationships. However, little is known about their role in matchmaking, where a matchmaker selects potential partners based on individual preferences and guides the dating process. This study examined whether the Big Five personality traits predict relationship formation in a matchmaking context. The sample included 1704 participants (48.5% men, 51.5% women; mean age = 62.5 years) living in the Netherlands. Personality was measured at baseline using the NEO-FFI questionnaire. Relationship formation success was defined as being in a relationship for at least three months. None of the Big Five traits predicted matchmaking success. Personality traits did not significantly predict relationship success in professionally guided matchmaking, suggesting that personality may play a limited role in this particular dating context.

AB - Previous research has linked Big Five personality traits—agreeableness, openness to experience, neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness—to relationship initiation in speed dating and relationship quality in long-term relationships. However, little is known about their role in matchmaking, where a matchmaker selects potential partners based on individual preferences and guides the dating process. This study examined whether the Big Five personality traits predict relationship formation in a matchmaking context. The sample included 1704 participants (48.5% men, 51.5% women; mean age = 62.5 years) living in the Netherlands. Personality was measured at baseline using the NEO-FFI questionnaire. Relationship formation success was defined as being in a relationship for at least three months. None of the Big Five traits predicted matchmaking success. Personality traits did not significantly predict relationship success in professionally guided matchmaking, suggesting that personality may play a limited role in this particular dating context.

KW - Big Five personality; relationship initiation; matchmaking; older adults; relationship formation

U2 - 10.3390/psycholint7020052

DO - 10.3390/psycholint7020052

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VL - 7

JO - Psychology International

JF - Psychology International

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ER -

The Relation Between Big Five Personality Traits and Relationship Formation Through Matchmaking

Abstract

Keywords

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