The images of love : Intimate opposite-sex relationship and adult attachment style

レンアイ イメージ シャクド ノ サクセイ ト ソノ ケントウ シンミツ ナ イセイ カンケイ セイジン ノ アイチャク スタイル ト ノ カンレン カラ

Kemasa, Yuji

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ タイジン シャカイ シンリガク ケンキュウシツ

親密な異性関係

成人の愛着スタイル

性別

プロトタイプ的研究

images of love

intimate relationship with opposite sex

adult attachment styles

gender

prototypical approach

Several studies were conducted to examine the relationships between the images of love considered as expectations or attitudes toward love and subjects’ intimate opposite-sex relationship and adult attachment style. For developing Love Image Scale, items were selected from answers to an open-ended question and results of brainstorming. After that, two researches were conducted. Subjects were 449 students in Study 1 and 460 students in Study 2. Factor analysis in Study 1 revealed seven factors (28 items) underlying the images of love, and the reliability of the Love Image Scale was almost confirmed in Study 2. In Study 1, the images of love were found to be related to subjects’ gender and intimate opposite-sex relationship; females tended to think of love as “growing” more than males, and males were more likely to have “devoted” image on love than females, and also, subjects who were currently involved in an dating relationship had relatively positive images on love. Study 2 examined the relationships between the images of love and attachment styles. Discriminant analysis revealed two discriminant functions clearly distinguished three attachment styles, and, in addition, they could be interpreted as attachment dimensions (“comfort with closeness” and “anxiety over relationship”). These results were discussed in terms of the continuity of the images of love and validity of the Love Image Scale.