Conceptualization of Romantic Love Among Adults with Down’s Syndrome

Abstract

The study explored the way in which people with Down’s syndrome may conceptualize love. It was inspired from a study on the structure of the love schema conducted earlier on a sample of participants with typical development. Participants were presented with twelve scenarios that described the characteristics of one relationship in terms of (a) degree of passion (low, intermediate, and high), (b) degree of intimacy (low vs. high), and (c) degree of commitment (low vs. high). These scenarios were devised as a function of an orthogonal factorial design: Passion × Intimacy × Commitment, 3 × 2 × 2. Participants were asked to assess the overall level of romantic love experienced by the characters in the scenarios using a response scale that was adjusted to the people with Down’s syndrome’s cognitive characteristics. People with Down’s syndrome assessed the level of romantic love in the same way than people from the typical population: They were able to integrate the information about level of passion, level of intimacy, and level of commitment in a meaningful way. In addition, they were sensitive to the fact that the impact of degree of passion and degree of intimacy on romantic love can change as a function of the level of commitment considered.