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CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS RESEARCH: A RESOURCE FOR COUPLE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Jan 2004 by Hendrick, Susan S
Finally, the Agape lover is the rarest type of lover. Agape is characterized by altruism, such that the partner's welfare is more important than one's own welfare, and what one can give in a relationship is more important than what one gets. Indeed, Agape has much in common with compassionate love. The idealism of Agape means that there is no one preferred physical type in a partner, and indeed, sensuality and sexuality are likely to be much less important than more spiritual qualities. Although pure Agape is unlikely to exist on the physical plane of this world, agapic qualities are extremely important as relationships encounter inevitable ups and downs.
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It is easy to characterize the love styles in rich, descriptive terms, and people who hear about them seem to grasp and personalize them immediately. The love styles go beyond limited descriptions of love to offer a truly multidimensional representation of what romantic love can be. Considerable research has built on Lee's theory.
RESEARCH ON LOVE STYLES
Building on Lee's theory and an initial scale developed to assess it (Hatkoff & Lasswell, 1979; Lasswell & Lasswell, 1976), we developed and refined a 42-item measure of the six major love styles, with seven items measuring each of the six love styles on a Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree metric. A first significant scaling article was published in 1986 (C. Hendrick & Hendrick, 1986). A partner-specific version (all items reworded to refer to a specific love relationship rather than having a mixture of general items and relationship-specific items) was published in 1990 (C. Hendrick & Hendrick). Finally, a 24-item short form was developed and published in 1998 (C. Hendrick, Hendrick, & Dicke, 1998). All versions of the scale are psychometrically sound (C. Hendrick & Hendrick, 1986, 1990; C. Hendrick et al., 1998) and can be used with equal confidence. Versions of the scale have been translated into a number of languages (e.g., French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Indonesian, Malaysian). The short form is likely the most appropriate one for use in therapy, simply because of its length. Sample items from the Love Attitudes Scale: Short Form include:
Eros: My partner and I have the right physical "chemistry" between us.
Ludus: I believe that what my partner doesn't know about me won't hurt him/her.
Storge: Our love is the best kind because it grew out of a long friendship.
Pragma: A main consideration in choosing my partner was how he/she would reflect on my family.
Mania: When my partner doesn't pay attention to me, I feel sick all over.
Agape: I would rather suffer myself than let my partner suffer.
Research conducted with the scale has explored a number of aspects of love styles. I discuss love styles and personality briefly, followed by love and issues of demographic diversity (religion, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender). Studies presented typically utilized college student samples of several hundred individuals, most of whom answered questions in reference to a current romantic partner or recent romantic partner. Individuals' own love styles were related to other variables, including satisfaction. Next, I discuss in greater detail research on partnered couples (either dating or married, as indicated), emphasizing the prediction of relationship satisfaction. Finally, I present recent work on links between love and sex and on respect in romantic relationships (samples for these latter two topics include college students typically in romantic relationships).
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