Imbalance in parental DNA matches on Ancestry..?

[MarcuccioV]

I have Italian/Sicilian/Greek on my maternal side and predominantly northern European on my paternal.

Ancestry has a beta version of a parental DNA match feature, which assigns a DNA match according to ethnicity findings to one of your parents (and in very rare cases, both).

My findings seem to be incredibly skewed -- my current listings for DNA matches (assigned by parent) are as follows:

Paternal (non-Mediterranean): 25,704

Maternal (Italian/Mediterranean): 623

Both: 3

Unassigned (pending update): 947

I can tell you nearly all the unassigned matches (except maybe less than a half-dozen) will go to my paternal side. Does anyone else with this feature have such an unbalanced outcome..?

Logically it would seem that I should have more maternally-derived DNA matches than I do. The closest match I have on my mom's side is a recently-discovered illegitimate 1st cousin (which I have confirmed). Next is another cousin's grandson, then it drops to 4th-6th cousin and weaker.

Anyone else seeing the same heavily unbalanced results..? I'm getting similar info from other matrices I've uploaded to as well...

[darkerhorse]

Unless your maternal extended family is that much smaller, I would tend to think that the discrepancy is just an artifact of bias in Ancestry's database and methods.

For example, are Northern Europeans much more likely to participate in DNA testing than Southern Europeans?

[MarcuccioV]

Unless your maternal extended family is that much smaller, I would tend to think that the discrepancy is just an artifact of bias in Ancestry's database and methods.

For example, are Northern Europeans much more likely to participate in DNA testing than Southern Europeans?

Could very well be either. I'm just looking to see if it's a pattern in cases of split-ethnicity, or if most people have their matches more evenly distributed.

It would surprise me any if my data is an outlier -- it would be far from the first time...

[MarcuccioV]

EDIT: the last line should read "It would NOT surprise me..."

[darkerhorse]

I assumed that's what you meant.

Maybe Gus was a polygamist.

[MarcuccioV]

I assumed that's what you meant.

Maybe Gus was a polygamist.

If so, then I should have DOUBLE the matches, LOL. Still strikes me as odd to have so few...

[darkerhorse]

Which side of the family is he on?

[MarcuccioV]

Which side of the family is he on?

He was my maternal grandfather (and no one called him "Gus", LOL)...

[greglam]

I have far more matches on my maternal (Irish/Hungarian) side than my paternal (Italian). I've simply chalked it up to the gross pool of testees. Anyone's # of DNA matches is entirely dependent on who chooses to test.

In my case, on my Italian side there is very little mystery (more or less) as to "who we are" or "where we came from", since, like most people in the US of Italian (or partial Italian) descent, we know who came over when and from where, because it was either our grandparents or great-grandparents, and we grew up with our cousins. We "still have the receipts", so to speak.

Now, again as for me, on my Irish/Hungarian side, there were many more question marks due to the nature and conditions of a large percentage of Irish immigration in general, i.e. "the famine", coffin ships, etc, and a lot less records being kept, e.g. pre-Ellis Island, etc, when immigration/emigration began.

In short, I think certain ethnic groups are "in search of their roots" far more than other groups, which then leads to skewed pools.

I could be entirely wrong, of course.

-Greg

[MarcuccioV]

I have far more matches on my maternal (Irish/Hungarian) side than my paternal (Italian). I've simply chalked it up to the gross pool of testees. Anyone's # of DNA matches is entirely dependent on who chooses to test.

In short, I think certain ethnic groups are "in search of their roots" far more than other groups, which then leads to skewed pools.

I could be entirely wrong, of course.

-Greg

I have a much more extended tree on my paternal side than my maternal. So in my case, it's the Italian side that is more of a mystery.

But it's good to know that I'm not the only one with an imbalance, albeit in my situation it still appears extreme.

I've had a dozen or more matches since my original post, and not a single one can been attributed to my Italian side. So the trend continues...

[SmartDavid]

your maternal extended family is that much smaller, I would tend to think that the discrepancy is just an artifact of bias in Ancestry's database and methods.

[roryelila]

The number of DNA matches you have on a particular side may also be influenced by the size and activity of the genealogical community for that specific region. More extensive family trees and genetic databases can lead to more matches being assigned to one side.

[kalylcie]

Each DNA testing company uses its own algorithms and methodologies to assign DNA matches to specific regions or populations. Differences in these algorithms may lead to variations in results between companies.

[MarcuccioV]

This has been the same imbalance regardless of testing company or matrix. The extreme imbalance has continued since my first post.

My belief at this point is that my paternal matches (which are generally UK and NW Eur based) are similar to the Askenazy Jew populations in that there are many false positives due to limited geography.

I'm only up to 632 matches for my Italian (maternal) side. Almost 26k for my paternal...