biostudies-literatureMassey DJNIGMS NIH HHSiyaf022https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12005266biostudies-literatureUnknown229(4)Population genetic theory, and the empirical methods built upon it, often assumes that individuals pair randomly for reproduction. However, natural populations frequently violate this assumption, which may potentially confound genome-wide association studies, selection scans, and demographic inference. Within several recently admixed human populations, empirical genetic studies have reported a correlation in global ancestry proportion between spouses, referred to as ancestry-assortative mating. Here, we use forward genomic simulations to link correlations in global ancestry proportion between mates to the underlying mechanistic mate choice process. We consider the impacts of 2 types of mate choice model, using either ancestry-based preferences or social groups as the basis for mate pairingGeneticsDifferentiating mechanism from outcome for ancestry-assortative mating in admixed human populations.PMC12005266R35 GM146926R35 GM133481Goldberg AMassey DJSzpiech ZAfalseDifferentiating mechanism from outcome for ancestry-assortative mating in admixed human populations.Population genetic theory, and the empirical methods built upon it, often assumes that individuals pair randomly for reproduction. However, natural populations frequently violate this assumption, which may potentially confound genome-wide association studies, selection scans, and demographic inference. Within several recently admixed human populations, empirical genetic studies have reported a correlation in global ancestry proportion between spouses, referred to as ancestry-assortative mating. Here, we use forward genomic simulations to link correlations in global ancestry proportion between mates to the underlying mechanistic mate choice process. We consider the impacts of 2 types of mate choice model, using either ancestry-based preferences or social groups as the basis for mate pairing2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Apr2025-06-28T03:05:34.496Z2025-06-28T03:05:34.496ZS-EPMC120052663991902910.1093/genetics/iyaf022