A theory and method of love.

Previous work by the authors and colleagues (1984) extended J. A. Lee's (1973/1976) theory of 6 basic love styles: eros (passionate love); ludus (game-playing love); storge (friendship love); pragma (logical, "shopping list" love); mania (possessive, dependent love); and agape (all-giving, selfless love). In Study 1, 807 undergraduates completed a 42-item rating questionnaire, with 7 items measuring each of the love styles. Six love style scales emerged clearly from factor analysis. Internal reliability was shown for each scale, and the scales had low intercorrelations with each other. Significant relationships were found between love attitudes and several background variables, including gender, ethnicity, previous love experiences, current love status, and self-esteem. Study 2, with 567 Ss, replicated the factor structure, factor loadings, and reliability analyses of the 1st study. The significant relationships between love attitudes and gender, previous love experiences, current love status, and self-esteem were also consistent with the results of Study 1. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)