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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 | ||||
| Mean | SD | N | Mean | SD | N | |
| 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 | ||||
| Mean | SD | N | Mean | SD | N | |
| 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 | ||||
| Mean | SD | N | Mean | SD | N | |
| 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.
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