The aim of this study wasaimed to understand the motivations behindfor marital choice, by considering transgenerational patterns and the search for similarities and complementarityies. Five adult couples, who were in the semester prior to their wedding and who were not living together, took part in the study. Individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with each participant and the data were submitted to qualitative content analysis. In the cases studied, both the transgenerational patterns, based on the parents' marital models, and the search in one another for similarities in one another rather than complementarityies, could be observed. The importance was highlighted of the models learned from the familiesy of origin as a referencebenchmarks to be sought or to be avoided was confirmed, and as were the similar characteristics that were common towere highlighted by the participants, in the questlooking for a more harmonious coexistence. However, it i's important to noteconsider that marital choice is a complex process, in which a variety ofdifferent factors interact.
Choice behavior; Transgenerational patterns; Marriage
