People in relationships report being more in love if they live in a country with high living standards, greater gender equality and a community鈥慶entred culture.
To find out how experiences of love differ, at the University of Wroc艂aw, Poland, and his colleagues surveyed 9474 adults in any form of romantic relationship across six continents.
The participants were given 45 statements, such as 鈥渏ust seeing my partner excites me鈥�, and were asked how strongly they agreed with each on a scale from 1 to 9.
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Hungary鈥檚 respondents had the highest 鈥渓ove scores鈥� on average, followed by Malaysia, Portugal, the US and Italy. The lowest scores were recorded in Austria, Jordan, South Korea, Uganda and Pakistan (see the full list below). The UK wasn鈥檛 included.
In general, the participants from countries that sit higher on the United Nations鈥� Human Development Index had greater love scores. Good living conditions may make it easier to be engaged with your partner, says Sorokowski.
Those from countries with greater gender equality also had higher love scores. This may be because women in these countries have more agency to choose partners they like, says Sorokowski.
Lastly, participants from more collectivist cultures, which stress the good of the community over the self, tended to have higher scores than those from individualistic countries. People from collectivist countries may be more selfless towards partners, which could lead to stronger bonds, says Sorokowski.
鈥淐onducting cross-cultural research on love allows us to gain聽a聽deeper understanding of聽this聽complex and universal emotion聽and promote empathy and聽understanding between cultures,鈥� he says.
Scientific Reports
