Individual and Partner Love Styles: Implications for the Quality of Romantic Involvements

Abstract

The goal of this study was to explore the association between the love styles endorsed by respondents and their romantic partners on the one hand, and the quality of their romantic involvements on the other. A sample of 186 couples at a large southern university completed a questionnaire that included a shortened version of Hendrick & Hendrick's (1986) Love Attitudes Scale (LAS) designed to assess six love styles originally proposed by Lee (1973). Both the individual's and partner's scores on the six love scales (Eros, Ludus, Storge, Pragma, Mania, Agape) were then examined as predictors of the structural qualities of the couple's relationship specified by Rusbult's (1980a, 1983) investment model. The results of correlational and multiple regression analyses indicated that the respondent's own love style scores were the best predictors of relationship quality. In particular, the endorsement of Eros and Agape were associated with higher levels of rewards, satisfaction, investments and commitment, lower levels of costs and poor alternative quality. Ludus showed the opposite associations with these same variables. The partner's love styles were also related to a number of relationship characteristics, although less strongly so. In addition, couples showed evidence of matching of love styles (with the exception of Ludus and Mania), and discrepancies in couples' love attitudes were related to negative outcomes for women but not for men. Finally, the associations between several demographic variables (relationship status, age, relationship duration) and respondents' love styles suggest that individuals' love attitudes may be subject to change as a result of time and/or experience. These findings suggest that individuals' beliefs about love have important implications with regard to the relationship outcomes experienced by both themselves and their romantic partners.

The Gift of Similarity: How Good and Bad Gifts Influence Relationships

“…For several reasons, we suspect women may be particularly likely to exhibit such relationship-serving responses. First, women tend to assume the role of "relationship caretaker," buttressing the relationship against threats (e.g., Morrow, Clark, & Brock, 1995;Saarni, 1984;Vangelisti & Daly, 1997). Second, women in dating relationships show a greater proclivity to hold positive illusions about their partners than men, thereby promoting relationship satisfaction and stability (Gagne & Lydon, 2003;Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 1996a, 1996b.…”

“…Second, women in dating relationships show a greater proclivity to hold positive illusions about their partners than men, thereby promoting relationship satisfaction and stability (Gagne & Lydon, 2003;Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 1996a, 1996b. Third, relative to men, women are more responsive to their partner's needs (Vangelisti & Daly, 1997), motivated to seek and maintain relationships (Wong & Csikszentmihalyi, 1991), prone to smooth over disagreements (Morrow et al, 1995), and to adopt an interdependent self-construal (Cross & Madson, 1997). Importantly, feeling similar to close others represents a central component of the self-concept among individuals with an interdependent self-construal (Cross, Morris, & Gore, 2002), suggesting that a threat to perceived similarity may spur defensive processes among women.…”

Dyadisches Coping und Partnerschaftszufriedenheit bei verschiedenen Liebesstilen

“…Frauen, die den spielerischen Aspekt der Liebe bevorzugen und unverbindliche, gegebenenfalls auch mehrere parallele Beziehungen führen, zeigen vermehrt negative Verhaltensweisen im gemeinsamen Umgang mit Belastungssituationen und nehmen diese öfter auch bei ihren Partnern wahr. Diese Befunde stimmen überein mit den Ergebnissen anderer Studien, in denen gefunden wurde, dass eine höhere Ausprägung auf dem Liebesstil Ludus mit geringem Commitment in der Partnerschaft (Aron/Westbay 1996;Morrow et al 1995;Levy/Davis 1988) und seltener Anwendung von konstruktiven Konfliktlösungen einhergeht (Levy/ Davis 1988).…”

“…Studien dazu fanden lediglich signifikante Zusammenhänge beim romantischen, altruistischen sowie spielerischen Liebesstil. Eros hängt durchgehend positiv mit Partnerschaftszufriedenheit zusammen (Fricker/Moore 2002;Galinha et al 2013), während in weiteren Studien zusätzlich ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen Agape und Partnerschaftszufriedenheit gefunden wurde (Bierhoff et al 1993;Hendrick et al 1988;Morrow et al 1995;Lin/Huddleston-Casas 2005;Gana at al. 2013 [jedoch nur bei den Männern]).…”

“…2013 [jedoch nur bei den Männern]). Ludus hingegen hängt negativ mit Partnerschaftszufriedenheit zusammen (Bierhoff et al 1993;Fricker/Moore 2002;Hendrick et al 1988;Morrow et al 1995 (Bodenmann 2000;Herzberg, 2013;Papp/Witt, 2010). Diese Form der interpersonellen Belastungsbewältigung wird als dyadisches Coping definiert (Bodenmann 2000 (Bodenmann 2000).…”