Why you're likely to marry your parent

Why you're likely to marry your parent: "When Lynn Houston was 27, she met an affectionate young man during a business trip to Virginia. Although she lived in Arizona, the two began dating; they married six months later. But after she joined him in Virginia, he became distant and had angry flare-ups, Houston says.
Dad Mike Chorley and husband Mike Wobschall agree on everything, according to Alison Wobschall.

He barely resembled the man she'd married, but he did remind her of another man she knew well: her father.

'They were both very emotionally unavailable and prone to outbursts of rage,' says Houston, now 44 and a business consultant in Phoenix.

After six years of attempting to rescue the union through therapy, Houston filed for divorce."

Alison Wobschall also married a man like her father, but with much better results. "I have a great relationship with my dad, so I suppose I looked for a partner who shares some of his good qualities," says Wobschall, 22, head of marketing and public relations for a Minneapolis nonprofit.

Both men are "really interested in politics and the stock market, and they agree on everything," she says. "Also, when I'm upset about something, they'll always help me put it in perspective."

Both share the name Mike, and they even look alike. And Alison bears a striking resemblance to her mother-in-law, in appearance as well as personality. "We always laugh at the same things, even if nobody else is laughing," she says.

Although Houston's and Wobschall's marriages couldn't have been more different, both women chose partners who resembled a parent. And, say experts, their experiences aren't that unusual.