An exploratory study of compassionate, companionate, and passionate love throughout relationship course and the lifespan

Abstract

This study examines how passionate, companionate, and compassionate love are experienced throughout the temporal course of a romantic relationship and throughout the lifespan. It was hypothesized that passionate love would be negatively correlated with relationship length, and companionate and compassionate love would be positively correlated with relationship length. Additionally, it was hypothesized that age would not affect individuals’ levels of the three types of love. Two hundred and seventy-three individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 74 years old, completed self-report measures assessing their levels of passionate, companionate, and compassionate love. Data were analyzed using multiple regression and mixed level modelling. Results from the regression analyses show that no effect of relationship length was found for levels of passionate or compassionate love, but a significant positive correlation was found between relationship length and companionate love. No effect was found for age on the three types of love, except for an interaction effect between relationship length and age for companionate love, in which age moderated the relationship between relationship length and companionate love. Mixed modeling results suggest that over the three love scales combined, love increases with relationship length. Additionally, a significant triple interaction between love, relationship length, and age suggests that with increases in age and length of relationships, the passionate and compassionate scales showed higher levels of love than the companionate scale. Additional variables including gender, relationship orientation, living arrangements, and marital status were also explored. This study offers insight into the temporal course of the three aforementioned types of love in romantic relationships, and suggests that individuals’ ages do not affect levels of love.