Do Men and Women Love Differently?

Abstract

This study focused on sex differences in attitudes towards love, within the context of assessing Lee's (1973) theory of love styles, using an instrument adapted from Lasswell & Lasswell (1976). Approximately 800 students at the University of Miami completed a 54-item love attitudes scale as part of a larger attitudes study. The love scale was designed to measure six love styles proposed by Lee: eros, ludus, storge, mania, pragma and agape. Analysis of variance of the item responses showed that males differed significantly from females on 29 of the 54 items. Males tended to be more erotic and ludic in their love attitudes. Females were more pragmatic, storgic and manic in their love attitudes. These results suggested strong sex differences in love attitudes. Results from factor analysis and cluster analysis provided partial support for Lee's theory. The secondary mixture styles of mania, pragma and agape emerged clearly from both types of analyses. The primary styles of eros, ludus and storge also emerged but often in combination with another style. Eros items tended to distribute thematically across the other styles. Factor structure of the scales was roughly comparable for males and females. Results were promising enough to suggest that further scaling work to measure the love attitude styles is warranted.