Perceptions of love and sex across the adult life span

Abstract

Four distinct aspects of the perceptions of love and sex have recently been proposed: (a) Love is Most Important – the emotion of love is more important than anything else; (b) Sex Demonstrates Love – although sex is important, it demonstrates the deeper sentiment of love; (c) Love Comes Before Sex – love comes before and “drives” sex; and (d) Sex is Declining – sex diminishes in a relationship (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2002). This study explored the factor structure of perceptions of love and sex in a Portuguese sample throughout the adult life span. A total of 924 men and women (52% women) participated, all of whom were currently in a romantic relationship. The Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale showed the same four-factor structure that was evidenced in U.S. samples, and acceptable psychometric properties. Age and gender influenced these perceptions of love and sex. Expected correlations with measures of other relationship constructs were found.

Keywords

Aging love sex

Love, sexuality, and desire for intimacy are important human features from birth to death (Hatfield, Rapson, & Martel, 2007). Philosophers, evolutionary scholars, sociologists, and psychologists all have varying perspectives on sex and love (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2004; Goodwin, 2009). Aron and Aron (1991) summarized scholarly work on the relation between love and sex using a unidimensional continuum, anchoring “love is really sex” at one end and “sex is really love” at the other end. The “love is really sex” end of the continuum comprises approaches to sexuality that ignore love or consider it as a result of sexuality. For example, Berscheid (1988) proposed that romantic love is “about 90% sexual desire as yet not stated” (p. 373), thus reflecting the “love is really sex” perspective. The “sex is really love” end of the continuum comprises approaches that ignore sexuality or consider it as a minor part of love. Examples of this position include passionate love versus companionate love (Walster & Walster, 1978), the triangular theory of love (Sternberg, 1986), and love styles (Lee, 1973). At the midpoint of the continuum are placed approaches that either separate love and sex or that see them as heavily overlapping. For example, Hatfield and Rapson (1996) equate passionate love and sexual desire, thus falling at the midpoint of the Arons’ continuum.

The perceptions of love and sex

The Hendricks’ extensive research program also illustrates how love and sex intersect. Their work examining the relationship between love attitudes and sexual attitudes is consistent with the overlap perspective at the midpoint of the above continuum (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1987). These authors found that passionate love was correlated strongly with idealistic sexuality, and game-playing love with permissive sexuality. Hendrick and Hendrick (1987, p. 159) concluded that “[l]ove and sex are inextricably linked, with love as the basis for much of our sexual interaction, and sex as the medium of expression for much of our loving”.

More recently, Hendrick and Hendrick (2002) examined laypeople’s current conceptions of how love and sex were linked in their relationships from a folk psychology perspective. “If one accepts the assumption that sex and love are linked in the service of evolution, then studying the two constructs in tandem – rather than separately, as they have so often been considered – is theoretically compelling” (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2002, p. 364). Scholars have seldom studied the links between love and sex in relationships. A study conducted by Weiss, Slosnerick, Cate, and Sollie (1986) that developed a scale to evaluate cognitive associations among sex, love, and marriage was an exception to this. Their eight-item scale approached issues such as love and sex, casual sex, and infidelity in the context of marriage. Hendrick and Hendrick (2002) did not wish to restrict their focus to love and sex in marriage, but intended to evaluate all types of romantic, partnered relationships.

Hendrick and Hendrick (2002) asked research participants to “tell us how love and sex (meaning any type of physical affection) are related in your relationship”. Participants’ free-form responses were analyzed qualitatively, with 27 “themes” extracted and put into rating item format. These items, along with several relationship measures, were employed in three studies. After extensive quantitative analyses, a 17-item, four-factor scale was developed assessing love/sex attitudes simultaneously. The first subscale, Love is Most Important, reflects the idea that the emotion of love is more important than anything else. An example of an item contained in this factor is: “We don’t always have time for sex, but it is important to show love in other ways”. The second subscale, Sex Demonstrates Love, argues that although sex is very important in a romantic relationship, it is a means of showing the deeper sentiment of love. An example of an item contained in this factor is: “Sex shows our love for each other”. The third subscale, Love Comes Before Sex, is centered on chronology, positing that love comes before and “drives” sex, not the reverse. An example is: “For my partner and me, love came first, followed by sex”. Finally, the fourth subscale, Sex is Declining, focuses on diminishing sex in a relationship. An example is: “We were sexual at the beginning of our relationship, but now we are abstinent”. In agreement with the predictions of Hendrick and Hendrick’s Study I, concerning the relative prevalence of love themes and sex themes, love themes were more prevalent than sex themes in the subscales of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale. Even if this measure “did not contain all the themes offered by the research participants, it nevertheless provides a window into how people view the linkages between sex and love” (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2004, p. 178). In fact, people seem indeed to link sexuality and romantic love in their relationships. More recently Hendrick and Hendrick (2006), in order to develop the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale, correlated four sexual attitudes (permissiveness, birth control, communion, and instrumentality) with the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale. The expected correlations were found. Love is Most Important correlated positively with Communion and negatively with Permissiveness and Instrumentality. Sex Demonstrates Love correlated positively with Birth Control and Communion. Love Comes Before Sex correlated positively with Communion and negatively with Permissiveness. Finally, Sex is Declining correlated positively with Permissiveness.

The present study differs from the previous study conducted by Hendrick and Hendrick (2002) in two ways: age group and cultural context. This study was conducted in the Portuguese culture and across the adult life span.

Contextual background

In recent decades, Portugal, which is a small, Catholic European nation, has experienced ideological, political, and economic pressures concerning gender roles similar to those of other Western nations. In Portugal, nowadays, there are not strong social restrictions on the choice of partners. Neto and Pinto (2007) compared attitudes toward love in three cultures: England, India, and Portugal. The above cultures were chosen because they differ with respect to individualism and to the tradition of nuclear families based on romantic courtships. British and Portuguese college students can be considered individualistic. India has been placed on the higher end of the collectivism continuum. The results showed more differences in love attitudes between the individualistic cultures (UK and Portugal) and the collectivistic culture (India) than between the two individualistic cultures. Specifically, as regards gender differences, in the Portuguese sample men were more ludic and agapic than women. The findings attest to the importance of considering both gender and cultural factors for a fuller understanding of the psychology of love.

Knowledge about love and sexuality among the aging population is now more important than ever before. In Europe, the proportion of people over 60 is expected to grow by 50% over the next 30 years, and women live up to one-third of their lives post-menopausally (Kontula & Haavio-Manila, 2009). Love and sex are important to people of all ages; however, it seems that until recently researchers of love and sex prioritized college students in their studies (Reeder, 1996; Neto, 2001). Love and sex may be experienced differently by a twenty-year-old than by a forty-year-old. It seems that it would be worthwhile to know more about the perceptions of love and sex in adulthood and aging.

Young adulthood lacks the sharp mood swings and frequent conflicts which are characteristic of adolescents (Hatcher, Trussell, Stewart & Stewart, 1994). During their 20’s young adults break away from their family and prepare themselves for life vocationally, academically, and socially. Around the age of 30 many people experience a minor life crisis (Levinson, 1978, 1996). Questions about the essence of life and a wavering assurance about previous choices are at the heart of that crisis.

Adults during their third to fifth decades often strive to reach the height of their vocations. They attend to their nuclear family as well as their family of origin and experience the birth, growth and striving for independence of their offspring (Smetana, 1988), as well as having to deal with “the daily hassles of life” (Arnett, 1999). Middle age is characterized by declining vigor, strength, and youthfulness, as well as letting go of one’s unrealistic dreams and aspirations. While women experience menopause, men pass through a climacteric, with both experiencing physiological changes (Levinson, 1978, 1996). However, changes associated with menopause have not been found to be the primary factors influencing the quality and frequency of women’s sexual relationships. Increasing age accounts for decreases in sexual satisfaction and frequency of behavior to a greater extent than menopausal symptoms.

The elderly frequently suffer from a variety of chronic ailments, deaths of friends or a spouse, and social isolation to varying extents (Rokach & Neto, 2005). However, research shows that many people continue to have sex well into their later years (Levy, 1994), although the proportion of people engaging in sexual activity decreases with age for both women and men (Mathias, Lubben, Atchison & Schweitzer, 1997). While aging can affect one’s physical health and therefore sexual expression, it does not necessarily affect one’s erotic style. Neto’s (2001) study indicates that erotic love orientation can be experienced just as intensely by elderly adults as by middle-aged adults and young adults. This finding suggests that erotic style encompasses the life span, rather than being a phenomenon largely confined to the youthful years.

Those changing circumstances, life events, and opportunities undoubtedly affect the manner in which people experience, evaluate, and cope with life’s demands. It therefore stands to reason that the experience of love and sex, as well as the manner in which different age groups approach them, would differ at various stages in life. As to my knowledge there has been no research about the effect of age on the perceptions of love and sex, I will examine this issue in the current study.

Objectives

The purpose of this research was four-fold. The first objective of the current study was to assess the psychometric characteristics of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2002). The second objective of the research was to examine age similarities and differences’ effects on the perceptions of love and sex.

The third objective of the research was to examine gender similarities and differences’ effects on the perceptions of love and sex. Hendrick and Hendrick (2002) predicted that women would endorse more scales emphasizing love, and men would endorse more scales emphasizing sex. However, contrary to predictions, they found that women and men did not differ on any subscales of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale. These findings seem to be in agreement with evolutionary theory (Buss, 1999) and the social structural perspective (Eagly & Wood, 1999) for people in a relationship. Hendrick and Hendrick (2002, p. 372) have pointed out that “[p]erhaps evolutionary theory would expect that persons already in a relationship would be less likely to exhibit sex differences in relational strategies”. Similarly, Eagly and Wood (1999) stated that particular sex differences will lessen “to the extent that women and men are similarly placed in the social structure” (p. 417).

The fourth objective was to explore relationships between the four perceptions of love and sex and a number of other theoretically important relationship phenomena (e.g., love attitudes, satisfaction with love life, romantic loneliness, sexual desire, and sexual intercourse).

We choose Lee’s (1973) six styles of love because we believe they provide a more comprehensive picture of the quality of loving than other measures of love. Lee (1973) proposed a comprehensive six-style model of love, with three primary styles and three secondary styles. The primary styles included Eros (passionate, romantic love), Ludus (game-playing love), and Storge (friendship-based love). Compounds of two of each of the primary styles formed the three secondary styles: Pragma (practical love, a compound of Storge and Ludus), Mania (possessive, dependent love, a compound of Eros and Ludus) and Agape (altruistic love, a compound of Eros and Storge). The Hendrick and Hendrick (1986) measure has been deductively grounded in Lee’s typology.

The Hendrick and Hendrick Love Attitudes Scale was subjected to across-cultural tests (Neto, 1994; Neto et al., 2000). The love styles previously identified among U.S. students were also identified among students in Portugal. Although Lee (1973) suggested that men and women experience love in numerous and “multicolored” ways (i.e., based on Lee’s (1973) metaphor of a color wheel on which he places many “colors” of love), the question still remains as to whether some styles of love are related to higher perceptions of love and sex than are others across the adult life span. A previous study demonstrated that some love styles were more strongly related to perceptions of love and sex than others among college students (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2002). Love is Most Important, concerned with the pre-eminence of love, correlated positively with the more positive love scales (Eros, Storge, and Agape). Sex Demonstrates Love, concerned somewhat more with sexuality, was positively related to passionate, possessive, and altruistic love. Love Comes Before Sex, concerned with love preceding sex, was positively related to passionate, friendship, and altruistic love. Sex is Declining, concerned with the diminution of sex, correlated positively only with game-playing love, and negatively with passionate, friendship, and altruistic love.

Besides love styles, we also examine the link between relationship constructs (satisfaction with love life, romantic loneliness, sexual desire, and sexual intercourse) and perceptions of love and sex. Satisfaction with love life can be defined as a global evaluation by the person of his or her love life (Neto, 2005). Relational satisfaction, for example, is strongly linked to romantic beliefs (Sprecher & Metts, 1999). Loneliness is a subjectively unpleasant and distressing feeling with potentially serious consequences (Peplau & Perlman, 1982). In reexamining Weiss’s (1973) distinction between emotional and social loneliness, DiTommaso, Brannen, and Best (2004) further divided emotional loneliness into two subtypes: romantic loneliness and emotional loneliness. Being involved in a romantic relationship was related to lower scores on the romantic loneliness scale (DiTommaso, Brannen, & Best, 2004). Sexual desire is the subjective experience of being interested in sexual objects or activities or wishing to engage in sexual activities (Regan & Berscheid, 1999). Beliefs about sexual desire have implications for sexual behaviors and for interpersonal relationships. Regan (1998) showed that participants viewed partners who desired each other sexually as more likely to experience a constellation of positive interpersonal phenomena than partners who did not sexually desire each other. Sexual desire and sexual activity (i.e., intercourse) are different phenomena (Regan, 1998). Findings showed a strong positive correlation between frequency and variety of sexual activity and sexual satisfaction (Haavio-Mannila, 1997; Hally & Pollack, 1993).

Given these objectives, the following three hypotheses were tested. We also pose an additional research question.

Hypothesis 1. We expected that the four-factor model suggested by Hendrick and Hendrick (2002) would also fit the Portuguese data, because the perceptions in the model are likely to have the same meaning in both countries.

Research Question 1. We expected to find that age influences perceptions of love and sex. However, the lack of systematic previous studies on this subject does not allow us to advance specific hypotheses concerning the influence of age on the different perceptions. In order to more fully understand patterns of association in the perceptions of love and sex as a function of age, we pose the following research question: How is age related to perceptions of love and sex?

Hypothesis 2. We expected to find gender similarities in the perceptions of love and sex.

Hypothesis 3. We expected to find that love themes (Love is Most Important and Love Comes Before Sex) would correlate with love variables (love attitudes, love satisfaction, and romantic loneliness) and that sex themes (Sex Demonstrates Love and Sex is Declining) would correlate with both love and sex (sexual desire and sexual intercourse) constructs.

Method

Participants

Only participants who reported being in a current romantic relationship (of at least a month’s duration) and who provided complete data were included in the sample. The sample consisted of 924 participants, 52% women, and 48% men. The mean age was 37.89 years (SD = 16.96); ages ranged from 18 to 90. The mean age of the participants by gender was not significantly different, F(1, 923) = 2.83, p > .05. The participants were divided into three age groups, in accordance with Erikson’s psychosocial stages (1963): young adults (18–30 years old, N = 436), adults (31–59 years old, N = 327) and the elderly (60–90 years old, N = 161). In an attempt to overcome the methodological difficulty of other studies which relied solely on college students (Sears, 1986), participants were recruited from life stages other than late adolescence.

Of our participants, 18% had not completed secondary education, 29% had completed secondary education, and 53% had attended university. Concerning religious involvement, 25% of the participants declared themselves attendees, 46% were believers-non attendees, and 30% were non-believers. The majority – 54% – of the participants were single, 30% were married, and 16% were separated, divorced or widowed.

Instruments

The study questionnaire contained four scales, all of which had previously been adapted for the Portuguese population, except the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale. In designing the Portuguese version of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale, the author followed the guidelines proposed in the literature on cross-cultural methodology (Brislin, 2000). The author initially translated the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale into Portuguese, and this version was then back-translated into English by an independent translator unaffiliated with the study. Minor differences were corrected at this stage by agreement between the author and the translator. These corrections were made on the basis that the translation should be easily understood by fluent Portuguese speakers. The agreed translation was then pilot-tested with 10 Portuguese participants (five women, five men). These participants were not affiliated with the study and were asked to pick out any phrases or items that were difficult to understand. All participants indicated that they had no difficulty understanding the Portuguese version of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale.

The Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale. The 17-item Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2002) measures four perception constellations about love and sex, including “Love is the Most Important” (six items), “Sex Demonstrates Love” (four items), “Love Comes Before Sex” (four items), and “Sex is Declining” (three items). Across three studies, the measure exhibited adequate psychometric properties (Hendrick & Hendrick, 2002).

Love Attitudes Scale. The 42-item Love Attitudes Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1986; Neto & Pinto, 2007), which measures the six major love attitudes described by Lee (1973), was used. This assesses Eros (passionate love), Ludus (game-playing love), Storge (friendship love), Pragma (practical love), Mania (possessive/dependent love), and Agape (altruistic love). Participants were asked to state how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement on a five-point Likert scale, with 1 as strongly agree and 5 as strongly disagree. The answers were reversed, and the mean of seven items pertaining to each love attitude subscale was scored, with the higher score signifying a higher value. Cronbach standardized alphas for the current study were .79 for Eros, .73 for Ludus, .76 for Storge, .83 for Pragma, 80 for Mania, and .79 for Agape.

Satisfaction With Love Life Scale. The five-item Satisfaction With Love Life Scale measures global love life (Neto, 2005). A sample item is: “In most ways my love life is close to my ideal” (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Cronbach standardized alpha was .91.

Romantic loneliness. The five-item short version of the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S) assesses romantic emotional loneliness (DiTommaso, Brannen, & Best, 2004; Fernandes & Neto, 2009). A sample item is: “I have a romantic partner to whose happiness I contribute”. Items were rated on a seven-point Likert-type scale that ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Cronbach standardized alpha was .74.

Two additional individual items assessed sexual desire (e.g., Regan & Berscheid, 1995) and sexual intercourse. The participants were asked to indicate the amount or quantity of sexual desire they currently experienced for their partner, using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 = none/very little, 7 = very high amount). In addition, they reported the number of different occasions during the previous month (30 days) in which they had engaged in sexual intercourse with their partner.

Demographics. Participants provided their demographic information, namely age, gender, ethnicity, religion, marital status, and highest level of education.

Procedure

Participants were recruited and tested by a trained psychology student. The research assistant recruited potential participants directly at the university or on the streets (usually close to commercial centers), and arranged with the participants where and when to administer the questionnaire. The participation rate was high (81%). Each participant answered individually in a quiet room at the university, or at another site depending on what he/she found most convenient. Most often, the participant immediately accompanied the experimenter to the chosen site. The experimenter was, in most cases, present when the participants filled in the questionnaires. It usually took less than 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire. All participants were unpaid volunteers.

Results

Different kinds of analyses were conducted on the data, including frequencies, principal components analysis, internal reliabilities, analyses of variance in order to show possible age and gender effects, correlations between the measures, and regression analyses.

Scale assessment

Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the raw data of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale for each age group separately. As the results were very similar we decided to combine the three age groups and present the results of the factor analyses for the complete sample (Table 1). Using the scree test, four interpretable factors emerged that accounted for 55.98% of the variance. Each factor had an eigenvalue higher than 1. This orthogonal four-factor solution was retained and subjected to varimax rotation. The first factor explained 21.2% of the variance and was identified as the Love is Most Important factor. The second factor explained 15.6% of the variance and was identified as the Sex is Declining factor. The third factor explained 12.1% of the variance and was identified as the Sex Demonstrates Love factor. Finally, the fourth factor explained 7.2% of the variance and was identified as the Love Comes Before Sex factor. All items showed loadings in the respective factor higher than .40.

Table 1.

Means, standard deviations, and factor loadings of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale

Item	M	SD	Loadings
Love is Most Important
1. For us, sex is secondary to the friendship aspects of our relationship.	4.52	1.85	.43
2. For my partner and me, sex is not necessary but it can make our love stronger.	4.56	1.88	.59
3. My partner and I love each other for many reasons other than sex.	5.42	1.56	.70
4. We don’t always have time for sex, but it is important to show love in other ways.	5.31	1.65	.74
5. For my partner and me, communication is more important than physical affection.	4.97	1.61	.71
6. For us, the physical aspect is a small part of the whole of our relationship.	4.73	1.63	.64
Sex Demonstrates Love
7. Sex shows our love for each other.	4.78	1.73	.75
8. For my partner and me, love and sex cannot be separated.	4.86	1.78	.75
9. When we have sex, it proves that we love each other.	3.40	1.96	.46
10. Words tell us we love each other, but sex shows us we love each other.	4.56	1.78	.75
Love Comes Before Sex
11. My partner and I wouldn’t have had sex if we didn’t love each other.	4.79	1.85	.55
12. We had to love each other before we could really enjoy being sexual with each other.	4.89	1.87	.62
13. For my partner and me, sex came first, followed by love.	4.33	2.19	.70
14. For my partner and me, love came first, followed by sex.	4.67	2.06	.80
Sex is Declining
15. My partner and I are drifting apart, and sex is declining.	3.09	2.13	.84
16. We love each other and are comfortable together, but the excitement of being ‘in love’ has decreased.	3.28	1.98	.77
17. We were sexual at the beginning of our relationship, but now we are abstinent.	2.57	1.94	.85

We computed these scores by averaging the corresponding items. The alpha values of these scores were .74 for Love is Most Important, .70 for Sex Demonstrates Love, .65 for Love Comes Before Sex, and .80 for Sex is Declining. Inter-subscale correlations were computed. All were modest (.11 or lower), except for a .45 correlation between Love is Most Important and Love Comes Before Sex.

Analysis of average sample means showed two distinct groups of perceptions of love and sex: one at the “least” part (the least endorsed) and three at the “most” part (the most endorsed). Means could vary from 1 to 7. There were significant differences in endorsement of the different perceptions of love and sex, F(3,871) = 307.89, p < .001, η_p ² = .515. Participants in the present sample showed most endorsement of Love is Most Important (M = 4.93), followed by Sex Demonstrates Love (M = 4.39), and Love Comes Before Sex (M = 4.68). They least endorsed Sex is Declining (M = 2.94).

Having shown that scores from the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale had desirable psychometric properties, the next step was to examine the relationship between scores of the Perceptions of Love and Sex with those on other measures of love and sex, personal measures to which one might expect the scores to be related, and background factors.

Sex and age comparisons

The second and third objectives of this research were to explore gender and age-based differences and similarities in the relationship between love and sex. Mean values for each subscale were computed separately for each gender and for each age group. Participants were divided into three distinct age groups. The young adults ranged in age from 18 to 30 (N = 436), adults from 31 to 59 (N = 327), and seniors from 60 to 90 (N = 161).

The data were analyzed by means of a 2 × 3, Gender × Age group design (Table 2). The Manova indicated a significant gender effect, Wilks’ lambda = .99, F(4, 854) = 3.27, p = .011, η_p ² = .015. A significant age difference was also found, Wilks’ lambda = .88, F(8, 1708) = 14.40, p < .001, η_p ² = .063. The interaction gender × age was not significant, Wilks’ lambda = .99, F(8, 1708) = 1.19, p = .30, η_p ² = .006.

Table 2.

Scores on the love styles for men and women in the three age groups

	Young adults		Adults		Elderly
	M	F	M	F	M	F
Love is most important	4.83	4.95	4.83	4.74	5.13	5.36
Sex demonstrates love	4.58	4.28	4.89	4.44	4.28	4.24
Love comes before sex	4.46	4.82	4.42	4.66	4.74	5.11
Sex is declining	2.65	2.34	3.19	3.34	3.97	3.72

As the Manova was significant, univariate Anovas for each perception of love and sex across gender and age were conducted (Table 3). These analyses revealed significant main effects from the age of respondents on all perceptions of love and sex, except on Sex Demonstrates Love. The measure of Love is Most Important revealed a main effect for age of the respondent, F(2, 895) = 9.17, p < .001, η² = .020. Using formulae taking into account differences in cell frequencies, pairwise comparisons of means showed the elderly (M = 5.24) scored higher on Love is Most Important than adults (M = 4.78) and young adults (M = 4.79). By contrast, there were no significant differences in Sex Demonstrates Love either between women (M = 4.32) and men (M = 4.49) or among young adults (M = 4.41), adults (M = 4.47), and elderly respondents (M = 4.26).

Table 3.

Analyses of variance results

Source	df	Mean square	F	P	η²
		Love is Most Important
Gender	1	1.33	1.10	.29	.001
Age	2	11.02	9.17	.001	.020
Gender × Age	2	1.69	1.41	.24	.003
		Sex Demonstrates Love
Gender	1	3.36	2.11	.15	.002
Age	2	2.28	1.43	.24	.003
Gender × Age	2	1.86	1.17	.31	.003
		Love Comes Before Sex
Gender	1	20.00	10.54	.001	.011
Age	2	7.88	4.15	.02	.009
Gender × Age	2	.49	.26	.78	.001
		Sex is Declining
Gender	1	3.68	1.39	2.38	.002
Age	2	121.64	46.20	.001	.092
Gender × Age	2	5.05	1.42	.15	.004

Table 4.

Correlations between measures and the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale

	Perceptions of Love and Sex
	Love is Most Important	Sex Demonstrates Love	Love comes Before Sex	Sex is Declining
Love attitudes
Eros	.11**	.08*	.06	−.24***
Ludus	−.24***	.04	−.26***	.23***
Storge	.04	−.09**	.10**	−.06
Pragma	−.17***	−.02	−.12***	.10**
Mania	−.13***	.08*	−.11**	−.08*
Agape	.11**	−.07*	.08*	−.12***
Satisfaction with
love life	.26***	.16***	.20***	−.06
Romantic loneliness	−.25***	−.03	−.27***	.54***
Sexual desire	.05	.22***	.04	−.26***
Sexual intercourse	−.06	.12**	−.04	−.23***

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

The measure of Love Comes Before Sex revealed a main effect for gender of the respondent, F(1, 915) = 10.54, p = .001, η² = .011. Women (M = 4.82) showed higher scores than men (M = 4.49). The measure of Love Comes Before Sex revealed also a main effect for age of the respondent, F(2, 915) = 4.15, p = .016, η² = .009. Using formulae taking into account differences in cell frequencies, pairwise comparisons of means showed elderly respondents (M = 4.92) were higher on Love Comes Before Sex than adults (M = 4.53). The interaction was not significant, F(2, 915) = .26, p = .76, η² = .001.

There were no significant differences in Sex is Declining between women (M = 2.88) and men (M = 3.11). By contrast, this factor revealed a main effect for age of the respondent, F(2, 913) = 121.64, p < .001, η² = .092. Using formulae taking into account differences in cell frequencies, pairwise comparisons of means showed differences among the three group ages: elderly (M = 3.85) scored higher than adults (M = 3.26), and these higher than young adults (M = 2.48). The interaction was not significant, F(2, 912) = 1.42, p = .15, η² = .004.

Correlations

Correlations were computed between all the measures. As correlations between the four subscales and the other measures were of particular interest, they are discussed briefly. Love is Most Important correlated positively and significantly with passionate and altruistic love, and negatively with game-playing, practical, and manic love. It was also positively related to satisfaction with love life, and negatively to romantic loneliness. For Sex Demonstrates Love, there were positive correlations with passionate and manic love, satisfaction with love life, sexual desire, and sexual intercourse, and negative correlations with friendship and agapic love. Love Comes Before Sex showed correlations similar to those for Love is Most Important, except for a positive relationship with friendship love and a lack of a relationship with passionate love. Finally, Sex is Declining was related positively to game-playing and practical love, and with romantic loneliness. It was negatively related to passionate, manic, and altruistic love, sexual desire, and sexual intercourse.

Discussion

The current study extended the research on perceptions of love and sex to the entire adult life span and another cultural context. First, we investigated whether the factor structure of responses to the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale is consistent in Portuguese culture. As hypothesized, we found the same factor structure as was evidenced in the United States. The Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale, assessed over adult life, presented a consistent factor structure, with all loadings over .40 and most considerably higher. The four subscales were relatively independent, with only two subscales (Love is Most Important and Love Comes Before Sex) correlating strongly (.45). Thus, in agreement with Hendrick and Hendrick’s findings, this measure seems to be tapping different concepts. The subscales show acceptable internal consistency (near or above .70). The individual item factor loadings yielded by factor analyses of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale for young adults (18–30 years old), adults (31–59 years old) and elderly people (60–90 years old) were very similar. These data suggest that people’s underlying connections of love and sex are constant through adult life.

However, the fact that the three age groups evinced structural similarity in ideas about love and sex does not imply that there were no differences in their responses. Focusing on age variations in the perceptions of love and sex, this study presented a comprehensive overview of differences and similarities over the adult aging span. The results showed interesting tendencies for people from their teens through to their nineties. Current findings suggest that age is related to all the Perceptions of Love and Sex, except one. Sex Demonstrates Love is rather stable over the years. By contrast, the age effects that we obtained in the present study suggest that Love is Most Important, Love Comes Before Sex, and Sex is Declining tend to be higher among older people.

Specifically, our data suggest that our older respondent group score higher on Love is Most Important than the two other age groups. For this elderly group, love as the primary entity is more important than for the other age groups. Older people score higher than adults on Love Comes Before Sex, emphasizing that for this elderly group love comes first. Finally, the scores of the three age groups were significantly different on Sex is Declining; for the older age groups, sex is no longer as much a part of relationships. Thus we found support for the idea that age influences perceptions of love and sex and the three of them are related to age. The potential causes of these effects, whether due to maturity or cohort differences, are as yet unknown. Subsequent research needs to work toward a better understanding of the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale, and the factors that may influence such perceptions.

In accordance with evolutionary and social structural perspectives, we expected to find gender similarities in the perceptions of love and sex for people in a relationship. This hypothesis was partially supported. Our findings showed gender differences only in the subscale Love Comes Before Sex. Women exhibited higher scores here than men. Hendrick and Hendrick (2002) found gender similarities in the four subscales linking love and sex. Despite these similarities, the authors pointed out the possibility that sex differences could emerge in another sample. A particular difference in our sample was that it was composed not only of young adults, as in Hendrick and Hendrick’s study, but also included adults and elderly people. Future research needs to clarify gender similarities and differences in linkages between sex and love.

We found some support for our third hypothesis. The two subscales Love is Most Important, concerned with the pre-eminence of love, and Love Comes Before Sex, concerned with love preceding sex, were not significantly associated with the two sex variables, but they were significantly associated with positive love and relationships constructs. Both subscales evidenced a similar pattern of correlations. Only the subscales Sex Demonstrates Love, concerned somewhat more with sexuality, and Sex is Declining, focusing on diminishing sex in a relationship, were significantly associated with the two sex variables sexual desire and sexual intercourse. In contrast to Sex Demonstrates Love, Sex is Declining, as expected, was negatively related to positive constructs, such as erotic and manic love, sexual desire, and sexual intercourse. However, these two scales were significantly and negatively associated with altruistic love. Sex is Declining and romantic loneliness showed the highest correlation. This finding is consistent with previous research indicating that romantic loneliness is related to dating frequency, romantic involvement, and dyadic adjustment (DiTommaso & Spinner, 1993).

In agreement with Hendrick and Hendrick’s findings, we showed that many of the correlations between Sex is Declining and the other three measures were significantly different from the correlations between those measures and the other three perceptions’ subscales. Thus, the Perceptions of Love and Sex Scale presented somewhat different constellations of correlations, as would be expected.

This study had some limitations that deserve attention. First, although the Perceptions of Love and Sex questionnaire has been shown to have good reliability and validity in the current Portuguese version, it is a self-report instrument and therefore might be susceptible to social desirability bias. Second, it should be noted that this study was conducted cross-sectionally, so no definitive claim can be made that the perceptions of love and sex change or do not change over time; rather, it can be said that different cross-sections of age (age cohorts) perceive some parts of love and sex differently. Longitudinal studies that follow individuals’ or groups’ development over time may be beneficial to broaden this area of study. There is relatively little research on the relationship between aging and the experience of love and sex. Investigating the experience of older populations is important as these individuals live longer lives.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Sandra Metts and three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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