mutual and unrequited love in adolescence

Question 1

what is limerence

Answer 1

tennov
-describing experience of intense emotional and sexual attraction for a desired romantic partner
-a form of passionate love

Question 2

how is limerence studied

Answer 2

attempts include interviews and narratives

Question 3

Tennov’s components of passionate love

Answer 3

-intrusive thinking
-tendency to dwell on other’s characteristics
-later studies describe it as an emotional state with a neurochemical background
-(presumed it was a primitive emotion experienced before pubity)

Question 4

natural and sexual selection

Answer 4

-evolutionary psych proposed passionate love as being product of natural and sexual selection
-passionate love is what our genotype has predetermined in order to pass on our genes and survive
-another notion: falling in love creates variability in offspring that can lead to survival (ST partners)

Question 5

sexual strategies theory

Answer 5

-men prefer ST relationships over women
-major distinction between mutual and unrequited love

Question 6

aim

Answer 6

-examine frequency of experiencing passionate love during adolescence
-examine gender differences in this frequency

Question 7

method

Answer 7

-140 undergrad psych students (18-43 yrs)
-53% serious relationship, 19% dating, 28% single
-4 age groups (diff developmental stages)
-pp reported love experiences, frequency, duration and intensity for mutual and unrequited love
-looked at personality styles and love styles

Question 8

results

Answer 8

-all pp had at least 1 love experience
-6.43% reported 1 episode of mutual love
-2.14% no mutual love experiences
-20.71% 5+ love (mutual) experiences and 5+ unrequited love experiences
-mean unrequited love increased sig with age in men (ages 10-20 unrequited love outnumbered mutual)
-mean no of unrequited love increased sig between 10-15, then remained level (16-20), at 16-20 mutual love higher in women
-both types of love increased from childhood to adolescence

Question 9

conclusions

Answer 9

-frequency of experiencing love increased across age groups
-higher unrequited love reported in men in late adolescence compared to women (same age), other ages and ML in same age

Question 10

variation of study

Answer 10

-extra age group added (50)
–results suggest UL returns to levels like ages 10-15
–no mean difference between gender and type of love
–ML remained high, no statistical diff found with late adolescents

Question 11

limitations

Answer 11

-narratives so subjective
-methodological issues with design e.g sample size
-background theory about age groups –developmental implications
-unequal gender groups

Question 12

future directions

Answer 12

-better design to measure specifically
-larger sample size
-to assess accumulative frequency, much older sample needed for accurate developmental implications