Measuring Love: Sexual Minority Male Youths’ Ideal Romantic Characteristics

Abstract

Research examining how sexual minorities characterize love within same-sex relationships is scarce. In this study, the authors examined the validity of Sternberg's triangular theory of love in a sample of sexual minority male youth (N = 447). To test the adequacy of the theory for our population, the authors examined the psychometric properties of the Triadic Love Scale (TLS) and tested whether the three underlying constructs of the theory (intimacy, passion, and commitment) emerged when participants were asked to consider their ideal relationship with another man. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the authors found support for the three-factor solution to characterize sexual minority male youths’ ideal romantic relationship, after minimizing item cross-loadings and adapting the content of the Passion subscale. The authors discuss the implications of their findings regarding the measurement of the TLS among sexual minority male youth and propose ways to enhance its measurement in future research.