RELATIONSHIP-SPECIFIC LOVE ATTITUDES SCALE

Description of Measure:

A 42-item measure of love attitudes— directed toward a specific love relationship. This measure is a modified version of the original Love Attitudes Scale which measured both romantic and not- romantic attitudes. The 42 items are divided into 6 subscales representing different love styles. The subscales are:

• EROS (passionate love) LUDUS (game-playing love) STORGE (friendship love) PRAGMA (practical love)
• MANIA (possessive, dependent love) AGAPE (altruistic love)
• Respondents answer each item using a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly agree), 2 (moderately agree), 3 (neutral), 4 (moderately disagree), 5 (strongly disagree).

Abstracts of Selected Related Articles:

This research was part of a larger research program on love and sex attitudes. Earlier work on love was reported in Hendrick, Hendrick, Foote, and Slapion-Foote (1984). The work on love extends Lee’s (1973/1976) theory of six basic love styles: Eros (passionate love), Ludus (game-playing love), Storge (friendship love), Pragma (logical, “shopping list” love), Mania (possessive, dependent love), and Agape (all-giving, selfless love). Theory development has proceeded concurrently with the development of measurement scales. Study I (N = 807) used a 42-item rating questionnaire, with 7 items measuring each of the love styles. Six love style scales emerged clearly from factor analysis. Internal reliability was shown for each scale, and the scales had low intercorrelations with each other. Significant relationships were found between love attitudes and several background variables, including gender, ethnicity, previous love experiences, current love status, and self-esteem. Confirmatory Study II (N = 567) replicated factor structure, factor loadings, and reliability analyses of the first study. In addition, the significant relationships between love attitudes and gender, previous love experiences, current love status, and self-esteem were also consistent with the results of Study I. The love scale shows considerable promise as an instrument for future research on love.

Parents may influence their children’s relationship development by their own relationship. The current research explored parent-child love attitude similarity in 86 triads composed of young adult children (21-23 yrs old) and their parents. Measures assessed demographics,

love attitudes, parent-child relationship quality, children’s self-disclosure, and parental relationship satisfaction. Results indicated considerable love attitude similarity between marital partners (parents), but little similarity between parents and children.

In 2 experiments, the researcher investigated the social desirability of different love styles (Eros, Ludus, Storge, Pragma, Mania, and Agape). In Exp 1, the Marlowe-Crowne measure of social desirability (D. P. Crowne and D. Marlowe, 1960) was correlated negatively with possessive, dependent (Mania) love styles in both men and women. In men, social desirability was correlated positively with romantic, passionate love (Eros) and game-playing love (Ludus), but negatively with all-giving, selfless love (Agape). In women, social desirability was correlated positively with Agape, but negatively with Ludus. 122 college students (aged 18-38 yrs) participated in Exp 1. In Exp 2, the researcher replicated these findings using an impression management manipulation (good, bad, and honest responding) with 89 college students (aged 18-44 yrs). The gender differences in social desirability of different love styles are explained in terms of traditional and nontraditional gender role socialization.

Scale:

1. My lover and I were attracted to each other immediately after we first met.
2. My lover and I have the right physical “chemistry” between us.
3. Our lovemaking is very intense and satisfying.
4. I feel that my lover and I were meant for each other.
5. My lover and I became emotionally involved rather quickly.
6. My lover and I really understand one another.
7. My lover fits my ideal standards of physical beauty/handsomness.
8. I try to keep my lover a little uncertain about my commitment to him/her.
9. I believe that what my lover doesn’t know about me won’t hurt him/her.
10. I have sometimes had to keep my lover from finding out about other lovers.
11. I could get over my love affair with my lover pretty easily and quickly.
12. My lover would get upset if he/she knew of some of the things I’ve done with other people.
13. When my lover gets too dependent on me, I want to back off a little.
14. I enjoy playing the “game of love” with my lover and a number of different partners.
15. It is hard for me to say exactly when our friendship turned into love.
16. To be genuine, our love first required caring for a while 1 2 3 4 5
17. I expect to always be friends with my lover.
18. Our love is the best kind because it grew out of a long friendship.
19. Our friendship merged gradually into love over time.
20. Our love is really a deep friendship, not a mysterious, mystical emotion.
21. Our love relationship is the most satisfying because it developed from a good friendship.
22. I considered what my lover was going to become in life before I committed myself to him/her.
23. I tried to plan my life carefully before choosing a lover.
24. In choosing my lover, I believe it was best to love someone with a similar background.
25. A main consideration in choosing my lover was how he/she would reflect on my family.
26. An important factor in choosing my lover was whether or not he/she would be a good parent.
27. One consideration in choosing my lover was how he/she would reflect on my career.
28. Before getting very involved with my lover, I tried to figure out how compatible his/her hereditary background would be with mine in case we ever had children.
29. When things aren’t right with m lover and me, my stomach gets upset.
30. If my lover and I break up, I would get so depressed that I would even think of suicide.
31. Sometimes I get so excited about being in love with my lover that I can’t sleep.
32. When my lover doesn’t pay attention to me, I feel sick all over.
33. Since I’ve been in love with my lover, I’ve had trouble concentrating on anything else.
34. I cannot relax if I suspect that my lover is with someone else.
35. If my lover ignores me for a while, I sometimes do stupid things to try to get his/her attention back.
36. I try to always help my lover through difficult times.
37. I would rather suffer myself than let my lover suffer.
38. I cannot be happy unless I place my lover’s happiness before my own.
39. I am usually willing to sacrifice my own wishes to let my lover achieve his/hers.
40. Whatever I own is my lover’s to use as he/she chooses.
41. When my lover gets angry with me, I still love him/her fully and unconditionally.
42. I would endure all things for the sake of my lover.

Scoring:

Each subscale is measured separately (each participant gets a different score on each subscale). The items are divided into subscales in the following way:

• Eros: 1-7
• Ludus: 8-14
• Storge: 15-21
• Pragma: 22-28
• Mania: 29-35
• Agape: 36-42
• Scoring is kept continuous.

Reference: