Facilitators of romantic attraction and their relation to lovestyle

A questionnaire was developed based on findings in experimental studies and from clinical speculation that various internal states and/or external conditions facilitate romantic attraction. A total of 305 participants responded to 30 items which were submitted to a principal components factor analysis and 4 factors emerged accounting for 50.5% of the variance. The 4 facilitators are distress, identity enhancement, aging and social pressures, and sexual desire. The internal consistency of the four scales were .82, .78, .80, and .86 respectively. As predicted, experience of intensification of any of the facilitators was found to be significantly related to love style. Participants experiencing an intensification of distress report more agapic interactions, those experiencing an intensification of identity enhancement report more mania, those experiencing an intensification of aging fears and social expectations report a more pragmatic love style, and those experiencing an intensification of sexual desire report less friendship interactions and more erotic love style than those not experiencing an intensification on the respective facilitator. Future researchers might employ the facilitators of romantic relationships to account for partner choice and satisfaction.