Associations between temperament and love attitudes in a college sample

The purpose of the present study was to link self-reported temperamental dimensions of behavior to interpersonal love styles, as expressed by a sample of undergraduate students. Eighty-one men and 163 women completed a questionnaire that included the EAS Temperament Scale [Buss, A.H., & Plomin, R. (1984), Temperament: early developing personality traits. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.] and the Love Attitudes Scale [Hendrick, C., & Hendrick, S. (1986), A theory and method of love. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 392–402]. A number of temperament dimensions that comprise emotionality, notably Fearfulness and Distress, showed gender differences irrespective of current relationship status. The love styles of Ludus, Storge and Agape also differed by sex. For the sample as a whole, a regression analysis indicated that temperamental Fearfulness and Distress were most predictive of the Agape and Mania love styles. The role of temperament in understanding interpersonal relationships of a romantic nature is addressed