What makes people feel loved? An exploratory study on core elements of love across family, romantic, and friend relationships

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21320074
AutoresMengya Xia (0000-0001-6413-353X, Department of Psychology The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Alabama USA, autor de correspondencia), Yi Chen (0000-0003-1828-1165, Department of Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Counseling The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Alabama USA), Shannon Dunne (Department of Psychology The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Alabama USA)
Año2024
Volumen63
Número3
Páginas1304-1318
Fecha de publicación2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaFamily Process (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0014-7370 • E-ISSN: 1545-5300
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/famp.12873
PMID36941530
OpenAlexW4328048309
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas38

With research long focusing on distinct characteristics of different love types, little is known about love as a general feeling across relationship contexts. To explore the core elements of love as perceived by laypeople and whether these elements weigh differently in different relationships, grounded theory was used to analyze open‐ended responses from 468 individuals about their feeling loved in family, romantic, and friend relationships. Results indicated that the feeling of love is an interpersonal process in which one receives positive responsiveness from the other and experiences an authentic connection with the other, consistently across conditions and time (i.e., in a sense of stability ); three core elements were shared across family, romantic, and friend relationships. Chi‐square independence tests revealed differentiated weights for love elements in three relationships, which corresponded to the prototypical love definition in family, romantic, and friend relationships. Findings suggested an integrated theoretical conceptualization of love as a shared feeling and asset across relationships, which provided important insights on love conceptualization, assessment, and study design, as well as implications for the treatment of dysfunctional relationships, best practices in daily interpersonal interactions, and improvement in intervention and therapy

Association (psychology) · Conceptualization · Developmental psychology · Dysfunctional family · Feeling · Interpersonal communication · Interpersonal relationship · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Romance · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology