If you're interested in the psychology of this sort of thing, it is about what is known as the "Imago" theory....which suggests that in our search for "romantic love" we are seeking to find our "lost-self"
This lost self is the deeply stored memories for our formative years and basically put there by our "significant others"...these can be parents, relatives, even friends. They are the blueprints of our deeply held belief as to who will "make me happy'
Problem is, when looking to find our lost self, we look for those people who COMPLEMENT THE NEGATIVES from our stored images from our significant others in early life..........interesting yes ?
That is why we often end up with partners who have similar characteristics to our parents...because from them came, not only the good things...but also the negatives in our psyche...and the negatives, or "less effective" characteristics are what we really, really want to fix, psychologically, when we seek a partner.
Food for thought ??
DavidE