Romantic Attitudes toward Love in Men and Women

A 29-item attitude scale (in a Likert-format) to measure whether one's attitude toward love is romantic or rational (Knox & Sporakowski, 1968) was completed by 807 students aged 18 to 22 yr. and enrolled in college courses. A three-way analysis of variance was carried on the love attitude scores by sex, age, and experience of love (measured as are you presently in love-yes versus no--and were you ever in love-yes versus no). The main effect of sex was significant, with men having a more romantic attitude (Ms = 81.6 and 83.5; Pl/777 = 7.69,f = 0.005). Women were also more likely than men to be currently in love (61% versus 46%, xz2 = 20.20, fl < 0.001). The main effect of age was also significant, with the younger students having a more romantic score (means in order of increasing age 81.3, 81.2, 82.5, 85.0, and 85.1; F4/777 = 3.94, p = 0.004). Experience of love was also significantly related to the romantic attitude toward love. Those who had never been in love had a mean score of 85.9, those who had been in love in the past 82.6 and those presently in love 81.9 (F21777 = 5.08, p = 0.006) .' The two-way and three-way interaction terms were not statistically significant. Thus, romantic attitudes are stronger in men, younger students, and those currently in love.