Universality of the Triangular Theory of Love: Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Triangular Love Scale in 25 Countries

Abstract

Love is an inherent part of human experience and one of the most important elements of close relationships. Researchers' interest in love is manifested in a handful of approaches that provide a potential theoretical framework for this unique feeling (e.g., philosophical, Secomb, 2007; economic, Becker, 1973; and biological perspectives; e.g., Sorokowski et al., 2017).The social sciences present several well-known theories of love. (A comprehensive review of theories can be found in Sternberg & Sternberg, 2019). Among the most popular theoretical approaches, one theory highlights a division into passionate (intense and arousing) and companionate (tender and affective) love (Feybesse & Hatfield, 2019;Hatfield & Walster, 1985), which suggests the parallel importance of love's different aspects. Another popular typology refers to love styles, as first described by Lee (1973) and as further adapted by Hendrick (1986, 2019). This theoretical framework specifies six styles of love: Eros (passionate love), Ludus (game-playing love), Storge (friendship love), Pragma (logical, pragmatic love), Mania (possessive, dependent love) and Agape (all-giving, selfless love). Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 2012), describing infant-parent bonding, has also given rise to a theoretical framework for understanding romantic love (Hazan & Shaver, 1987;

Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives on Romantic Love

“…Validated measures of romantic love (i.e., Passionate Love Scale, Love Attitudes Scale, Triangular Love Scale) have been used in at least 50 countries (Feybesse and Hatfield, 2019). The Triangular Theory of Love is robust cross-culturally (Sorokowski et al, 2020). Cross-cultural accounts of the features and the intensity of romantic love are remarkably similar (see Feybesse and Hatfield, 2019 for a review of cross-cultural perspectives on romantic love).…”

“…Romantic love is a universal or near-universal feature in human societies (Jankowiak and Fischer, 1992;Gottschall and Nordlund, 2006;Jankowiak and Paladino, 2008;Fletcher et al, 2015;Buss, 2019;Sorokowski et al, 2020). A small number of genetic correlation studies show that there are a number of genes associated with romantic love (Emanuele et al, 2007;Murray et al, 2019;Acevedo et al, 2020).…”

“…It often occurs early in a romantic relationship but can lead to long-term mating. It is a universal or near-universal (Jankowiak and Fischer, 1992;Gottschall and Nordlund, 2006;Jankowiak and Paladino, 2008;Fletcher et al, 2015;Buss, 2019;Sorokowski et al, 2020) and is characterized by a range of cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, genetic, neural, and endocrine activity. It occurs across the lifespan in both sexes.…”

When and how does the number of children affect marital satisfaction? An international survey

“…Data for the study was obtained from the published dataset [50], which include 7178 married individuals from 33 countries and territories: Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Uganda. The data was collected in 2012 and 2013 and was part of a broad cross-cultural research project, which investigated, inter alia, romantic relationships [48,[51][52][53][54], behaviors [55], and their motives [56] across numerous countries and territories. All samples were convenience samples (e.g., students, acquaintances of the researchers, participants of vocational courses, inhabitants of home towns of the researchers etc.).…”

Corrigendum: Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives on Romantic Love

“…It often occurs early in a romantic relationship but can lead to long-term mating. It is a universal or near-universal (Jankowiak and Fischer, 1992 ; Gottschall and Nordlund, 2006 ; Jankowiak and Paladino, 2008 ; Fletcher et al, 2015 ; Buss, 2019 ; Sorokowski et al, 2020 ) and is characterized by a range of cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, genetic, neural, and endocrine activity. It occurs across the lifespan in both sexes.…”