Relationship Satisfaction in Young Adults: Gender and Love Dimensions

Abstract

Men and women present differences that go beyond evolutionary mechanisms of reproduction and species maintenance; social and cultural dimensions are indicated as modeling agents of different configurations of romantic relationships. This study presents the results of relationship quality models based on Sternberg’s triangular love theory. There were 335 subjects involved in romantic relationships, of whom 190 (56.7%) were male and 145 (42.3%) were female. Mean age of the participants was 29 years (SD = 9.1 years). The results of the study point out that love components predict relationship satisfaction differently per gender. For women, the intimacy, passion and commitment variables are significant predictors, whereas for men the commitment variable was not significant.

Keywords

• relationship satisfaction
• sex differences
• romantic relationship