GoTo Data Guru Love Resiliency Search

The Love Test       Love Test Findings
Convergent Validity
     


Are Scores on The Love Test, related to self reports of how much people say they love their partner, How much people say they like their partner, How much people say they lust after their partner, How satisfied people say they are with their relationship and how likely they say they are to still be together in 5 years?

Yes! The highest correlations were as expected:

In general, there are positive correlations between scores on The Love Test scales and the self report measures of the same constructs (see below).

The experience scales were more highly correlated with the self report items than were the concept scales.

For the Concept Version, estimates of how much they love their partner were most highly correlated with scores on the commitment scale (r=.24), intimacy scale (r=.22) and the passion scale (r=.13). The same pattern was evident for the experience of love scales with Commitment (r=.51) having the highest correlation with self reports of how much they love their partner, then intimacy (r=.41) and passion (r=.39).

Scores on the experience version were more highly correlated with self reports of satisfaction with the relationship than were scores on the concept version of the scale.

Experience version - Scores on the intimacy scale (r=.65) and the commitment scale (r=.64) are more related to reported satisfaction with the relationship than are scores on the passion scale (r=.53).

Concept version - Scores on the intimacy scale (r=.18) and the commitment scale (r=.17) are more related to reported satisfaction with the relationship than are scores on the passion scale (r=.10).

Correlations between the Love Test Subscales and the Self Report Items
Self Report Item Concept of Love Scale
(N=3797)
Experience of Love Scale
(N=5812)
Passion Intimacy Commitment Passion Intimacy Commitment
How much do you love your partner?
(0 none - 10 a lot!)
.13 .22 .24 .39 .41 .51
How much do you like your partner?
(0 none - 10 a lot!)
.16 .23 .20 .58 .61 .52
How much do you lust after your partner?
(0 none - 10 a lot!)
.28 .22 .21 .53 .35 .35
How likely is it that you and your partner will still be together in 5 years?
(1 not likely - 5 totally likely)
.08 .19 .21 .33 .48 .56
How satisfied are you with your current relationship?
+(1 not satisfied - 5 totally satisfied)
.10 .18 .17 .53 .65 .64

Another way to look at this is to collapse the categories on the self report measures and look at the scale means for each group. For the a) How much do you like your partner?, b) How much do you lust for your partner?, and c) How much do you love your partner? self report items, the following groups were formed:

For the item: How likely is it that you will still be together in 5 years?:

For the item: How satisfied are you with your relationship?:

In the tables below, you'll note that there are smaller differences between the groups on the concept versions of The Love Test scales than on the experience version of The Love Test scales. On the three self report items that correspond to the constructs tapped by The Love Test subscales (passion, intimacy & commitment), group differences are striking.
Subscale Means for the Groups Defined by the Self Report Items
How much do you like your partner? Intimacy Concept Scale Intimacy Experience Scale
MeanSDNMeanSDN
low (0-4) 87.4 8.3 131 38.5 18.1 131
medium (5-7) 85.8 9.2 561 58.2 17.6 561
high (8-10) 90.5 7.1 5120 82.8 14.7 5120
How much do you lust for your partner? Passion Concept Scale Passion Experience Scale
MeanSDNMeanSDN
low (0-4) 68.1 12.8 442 49.7 21.7 442
medium (5-7) 69.8 10.8 1137 65.7 15.7 1137
high (8-10) 75.8 10.6 4233 78.1 13.3 4233
How likely to be together in 5 years? Commitment Concept Scale Commitment Experience Scale
MeanSDNMeanSDN
Not or somewhat likely 75.1 13.2 1776 60.1 20.7 1776
Moderately likely 78.2 11.3 1313 72.7 15.5 1313
Very or totally likely 80.5 11.7 2723 83.6 12.8 2723

People who used the high end of the scale on the self report items scored higher on The Love Test scales as compared to those who chose the midpoints of the scale on the self report items, who in turn scored higher than those who chose the lower end of the scale on the self report items. it's also interesting to note that the concept scale scores for the groups who scored on the low to moderate range of the self report items were more similar to each other than to the group who scored on the high end of the self report items (who scored higher on the concept version of The Love Test).

The same effects held for the groups defined by "How much do you love your partner?" (see table below). People who rated their love for their partner on the high end of the scale, scored slightly higher on concept version of The Love Test scales than did the other two groups. On the Experience version of The Love Test, these group difference were more pronounced. People who said they love their partners more (the High Love group), score higher on The Love Test scales than those who scored in the "medium" range in terms of how much they love their partner, followed by the Low Love group. You'll also note that there was less variability (lower standard deviations SD) in Love Test scores among the High Love group as compared to the Medium Love group which in turn had more variability in Love Test scores than did the Low Love group.

Concept Scale Means for the Groups Defined by How Much They Say They Love Their Partner
How much do you love your partner? Total Score Passion Intimacy Commitment
Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N
low (0-4) 78.9 9.4 263 71.0 11.8 263 87.4 8.4 263 72.9 13.9 263
medium (5-7) 78.7 9.3 858 71.6 11.1 858 86.7 8.6 858 73.2 13.2 858
high (8-10) 82.9 8.3 4691 74.6 11.1 4691 90.7 7.0 4691 79.7 11.6 4691

Experience Scale Means for the Groups Defined by How Much They Say They Love Their Partner
How much do you love your partner? Total Score Passion Intimacy Commitment
Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N
low (0-4) 60.0 18.8 1383 60.5 20.3 1383 62.2 20.6 1383 55.7 20.1 1383
medium (5-7) 72.3 13.5 1401 70.3 15.0 1401 75.6 14.2 1401 69.8 15.6 1401
high (8-10) 85.0 9.4 3028 80.9 10.6 3028 89.1 9.5 3028 84.1 11.7 3028


The same effects held for the groups defined by "How satisfied are you with your relationship?" (see table below). People who were more satisfied with their relationship, scored slightly higher on concept version of The Love Test scales than did the other two groups. On the Experience version of The Love Test, these group differences were more pronounced. People who were more satisfied with their relationship scored higher on The Love Test scales than those who were moderately satisfied with their relationship, followed by the group who reported being least satisfied with their relationship.

Concept Scale Means for the Groups Defined by How Satisfied People Say They Are with Their Relationship
How satisfied are you with your relationship? Total Score Passion Intimacy Commitment
Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N
Not or somewhat 80.7 9.0 1383 73.1 11.2 1383 88.6 8.0 1383 76.2 12.8 1383
Moderately 80.5 8.9 1401 72.7 11.2 1401 88.4 8.0 1401 76.5 12.6 1401
Very or totally 83.4 8.2 3028 75.0 11.1 3028 91.3 6.7 3028 80.3 11.6 3028

Experience Scale Means for the Groups Defined by How Satisfied People Say They Are with Their Relationship
How satisfied are you with your relationship? Total Score Passion Intimacy Commitment
Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N Mean SD N
Not or somewhat 60.0 18.8 1383 60.5 20.3 1383 62.2 20.6 1383 55.7 20.1 1383
Moderately 72.3 13.5 1401 70.3 15.0 1401 75.6 14.2 1401 69.8 15.6 1401
Very or totally 85.0 9.4 3028 80.9 10.6 3028 89.1 9.5 3028 84.1 11.7 3028

Return to the Love Test Findings - Scale Properties Main Page

Return to the Love Test Findings Page.


GoTo Data Guru Love Resiliency Search