A lot like love : an exploration of passion, intimacy and commitment amongst University students

Abstract

This work investigates how Passion, Intimacy and Commitment play a role in the relationships of University Students between the ages of 18 - 24 and how these three factors are affected by gender and duration. This quantitative research is based on Stemberg's Triangular Theory Love scale. What has been concluded from the results is that Intimacy has the highest mean score from the three factors, and seems to have the least gender bias. Passion seems to be the first to crest early in a relationship; males' passion seems to take longer to decline than that of females. Commitment is the factor which peaks itself very quickly for females. Getting to know the partner really well, helps the relationship grow stronger, since the Intimacy - Commitment correlation gets the highest score (p value 0.633).