Adulthood

Among thousands of heterosexual couples from 25 countries (including from Slovenia), who were in the same romantic relationship for at least 8 years (half married/engaged, average age 31), we empirically supported Sternberg’s three-component model of love (passion, intimacy, commitment) and measurement invariance of the scale of the triangular model of love between the considered countries, as well as measurement invariance between genders. The components of love were moderately positively correlated with each other, and their expression of the three components of love differed significantly between groups of different ages. The highest level of passion and intimacy was reported by individuals who had been partners for 3 to 6 years; those who had been in a relationship for longer (up to 15 years) reported similar levels of passion to those who had been in a relationship for less than 1 year; after 15 years in a relationship, passion declined, but those in more than 20 year-long relationship still noticeably above the neutral point. Intimacy decreased in relationships longer than 6 years and remained at a similar level with the duration of the relationship as in relationships shorter than 1 year. In the latter, commitment (to stay in the relationship) was the lowest compared to longer lasting relationships. With the duration of the relationship, commitment increased and did not change in those that lasted more than 10 years.

Literature:

Sorokowski, P., ……, Kavčič, T., Musil, B., Plohl, N., Zupančič, M., Horvat, M. idr. (2021). Universality of the triangular theory of love: Adaptation and psychometric properties of the Triangular Love Scale in 25 countries. The Journal of Sex Research, 58(1), 106-115.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00224499.2020.1787318, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2020.1787318.

In an original scientific article, authors from 45 countries examined sociocultural and ecological factors of experience and self-perceived expressiveness of three dimensions of partner love (passion, intimacy, and commitment to the current relationship). 9,474 people (56% women) from 45 countries participated. In predictive analyses, country-level characteristics were taken into account (approximates of the degree of modernization, e.g. human development index – HDI, modernization – WML, gender inequality – GII, collectivism, average annual temperature). They controlled for duration of the relationship (passion and intimacy decreased with duration, but determination to maintain the relationship increased) and gender (women reported higher levels of intimacy and lower levels of passion than men). The results supported a strong biological basis of passion in the function of reproduction, although the experience of love (especially intimacy and determination) increased with the level of modernization of society, but only up to a certain threshold, when passion and determination began to decline, which complements the hypothesis of the cultural evolution of love.

Sorokovski, P., ……Kavčič, T., …. Zupančič, M., et al. (2023). Modernization, collectivism, and gender equality predict love experiences in 45 countries. Scientific Reports, 13, čl. št. 773, 1-10. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26663-4, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26663-4. [COBISS.SI-ID 139102211].

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26663-4

With the data provided by over 14,000 adults, aged 29 on average, from 45 countries around the world (including Slovenia), we tested the evolutionary and social learning hypothesis when studying the selection of desired qualities of a potential, ideal and actual partner. Men and women were more similar than different in terms of desired qualities in a partner. In relation to the the ideal partner for example, both men and women rated kindness, intelligence and health higher than their financial situation and physical attractiveness, but some differences between the sexes were statistically significant. The evolutionary hypothesis was supported by the findings regarding the desired qualities of a potential and ideal partner, namely, the external appearance and physical attractiveness of the partner were more important to men compared to women, while in women compared to men, the partner’s kindness, caring, professional and financial position, and education were considered more important. Women’s reproductive abilities are limited by their age, so men are thought to be more attracted to youthful characteristics of female partners (health, external appearance), which signal sexual attractiveness, readiness for sexual behavior, ability to reproduce and capacity to care for a child. Women, on the other hand, are said to prefer a partner who has material resources and is emotionally committed in a partner relationship, which should increase the likelihood that he will be able to ensure the survival and well-being of his children. The results of the study also support the social learning hypothesis, according to which societies should, to varying degrees, encourage boys to learn assertiveness and independence, which are necessary for productive and successful work, and for girls, sensitivity to the needs of others, cooperative behavior, interpersonal understanding and caring, which should encourage greater care for children in adulthood. Namely, in societies with less traditional norms regarding gender differences in social roles, gender differences in desirable characteristics of potential and ideal partners were smaller than in societies with more traditional gender roles. Furthermore, the age difference between the actual partners (men were on average two years older) decreased with the increase of the gender equality index (in Slovenia, for example, it was high, but the difference between the partners’ ages was small). These indices also predicted differences in the preferred qualities of a potential partner, i.e. greater importance of the partner’s physical attractiveness and greater importance of the partner’s financial situation.

In the same cross-cultural survey (N = 14,487; 55% women, age 18 to 91 years, M = 29 years, mostly from big cities and relatively educated) in 45 countries from five continents, including Slovenia, we further studied how preferences in choosing an ideal partner vary with the population share of men and women. The results of the study support the hypothesis that the relative proportion of the representation of men and women in the population is associated with the importance of preferred qualities in a partner. In populations with a higher proportion of men, these are e.g. less demanding of women’s physical attractiveness, while women are more demanding. The opposite is typical of populations in which the proportion of one gender is smaller, as members of this gender are generally more demanding in terms of physical attractiveness and economic resources of a partner (regardless of the individual measure of the gender ratio in the population, e.g. at birth, at different later ages ). The findings generally support the assumption about the nature of partner selection strategies, especially its universal structure and variability between very different socio-cultural environments of individual populations.

Literature:

Walter, K. V., ……, Zupančič, M., Kavčič, T.,  idr. (2020) Sex differences in mate preferences across 45 countries: A large-scale replication. Psychological Science, 31(4), 408-423. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0956797620904154, DOI: 10.1177/0956797620904154.

Walter, K. V., ….., Zupančič, M., Kavčič, T. idr. (2021). Sex differences in human mate preferences vary across sex ratios. Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences. Jul. 2021, 288(1955). https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.1115, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1115.

In the study, with data collected from over 14,000 individuals (youths on the transition to adulthood and adults) from 45 countries, we were the first to systematically examine the factors of intercultural differences in emotional touch with people with whom the participants have a close interpersonal relationship. We took into account factors at the socio-cultural level (regional temperature, incidence of parasitic stress, regional conservatism, collectivism and religion) and factors at the individual level (gender, age, personal history of parasitic diseases, conservatism, religiosity and desired interpersonal distance). Participants from Slovenia also took part in the research. We included caressing, different ways of hugging, patting, kissing as measures of interpersonal touch. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked the participants whether they had touched another person, including their youngest child, partner, friend, in any of the ways presented in pictures and words in the last week. Affective touch was most common in the relationship with the partner (across countries 92.6%) and one’s own child (91.4%), both in general and by individual types of affective touch (especially kissing, which was rarest in the relationship to friends). In the model without predictors, we explained 24.4% of the differences in affective touch between countries. In individual close interpersonal relationships, individual-level and cultural-level predictors explained a significant proportion of the variance in affective touch, which was more frequent and/or more diverse in warmer regions of the world, in less conservative and less religious countries, and among younger, female, and more liberal individuals. These findings show that cultural norms in individual societies influence the general tendency of individuals to emotional touching or its avoidance and modify the types of touching in a range of interpersonal relationships. Thus, touching may be a common expression of affection that is not formalized and manifests itself in various ways, and touching may be restricted by various personal and cultural taboos.

Literature:

Sorokowska, A., ….., Kavčič, T., Zupančič, M. idr. (2021). Affective interpersonal touch in close relationships: A cross-cultural perspective. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 47(12), 1705-1721, ilustr. ISSN 1552-7433. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167220988373, DOI: 10.1177/0146167220988373.

The contribution, based on data obtained from a total of 7,880 participants from 37 countries, shows the connection between the experiences of partner love (a joint assessment of passion, intimacy and determination for the current partnership) with emotional touching (touches without sexual intent) of the partner. In all countries, higher levels of love predicted the variety of emotional touches (Study 1) and their frequency (Study 2). Some significant (smaller) effects of love experiences on emotional touching were moderated by age, conservatism and desired interpersonal distance. The findings highlight the universal importance of emotional touch between partners in maintaining their love relationship.

Sorokowska, A., …., Kavčič, T., …. Zupančič, M., et al. (2023) Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world. Scientific Reports, 13, čl. št. 5497, str. 1-13. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31502-1, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31502-1. [COBISS.SI-ID 147821059].

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31502-1

Using the Day Reconstruction Method, Slovenian older adults (N = 84; 51 women and 33 men, aged 65 to 91) reported how they spend their time and what they experience during a random day. We discovered large interpersonal differences both in the use of time and in the subjective experience of various activities. The participating older adults spent most of their time engaged in routine activities (e.g., cooking, eating, housework), during which they did not experience many hedonic or eudaimonic experiences, and relatively passive leisure activities (e.g., watching television, reading, relaxing). They perceived reading and relaxation as relatively pleasant, but not very useful or meaningful activities, while watching television was rated as distinctly meaningless and  below average in pleasantness. Approximately one-sixth of the participants also performed paid work during their previous day, during which they experienced high levels of eudaimonic, as well as above-average levels of hedonic experiences. Among relatively frequent activities, older adults experienced pleasant emotions, as well as a sense of focus, competence, meaning, and usefulness, especially during socializing with friends, as well as during activities that involved physical effort (eg, cycling, gardening, walking). The analysis of the connections between activities and general subjective well-being indicated that how older adults subjectively experience individual activities  is more important for well-being than the specific activities in which they engage in.

Literatura:

Kavčič, T. in Avsec, A. (2018). A day in the lives of older adults: What makes them happy. Psihološka obzorja, 27, 51-60. https://doi.org/10.20419/2018.27.485

In a normative sample of 272 older adults from different Slovenian regions, aged 71-82 years on average (70% women), we studied the simultaneous predictive value of five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness) for three components of subjective well-being (SB) according to the Keyes model, which includes emotional (EW), psychological (PW) and social well-being (SoW). In the predictive models, we first took into account the demographic characteristics of the participants (gender, age, marital status, level of education) and their subjective assessment of health, and then added self-assessments of five personality traits. We used the Subjective Health Assessment Questionnaire, which we designed for the purpose of the research, the short form of the Mental Health Continuum, and the BFI Big Five Factors Questionnaire. Demographic characteristics did not significantly predict components of SB, while subjective assessment of health incrementally explained a significant proportion of the variance in EW (i.e., 21%) and PW (9%). A set of five personality traits significantly improved prediction, over and above demographic characteristics and subjective health assessment (ie, for 11% of EW and 25% of PW). Here, agreeableness was associated with all three components of SW, while four personality traits were differentially associated with individual components of SB. A high level of conscientiousness and a low level of neuroticism significantly predicted EW, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness predicted PW, and openness predicted SoW. The findings significantly contribute to the findings on the connection between personality traits and subjective well-being, because they deal with these associations specifically in the elderly and take into account the role of personality traits also in the often overlooked aspects of subjective well-being (PW and SoW) in this period. Since developmental needs and developmental tasks in late adulthood include generativity, emotionally involved interpersonal relationships, and an active lifestyle, these two aspects of SW, which relate to the functioning of individuals in their social world (SoW),  and involvement in meaningful activities and realization of one’s own potentials (PW), are as important indicators of successful aging as their EW.

Literature:

Petrič, M. in Zupančič, M. (2021). Personality traits predicting different aspects of subjective well-being in elderly adults. Psihološka obzorja [Spletna izd.], 30, 15-25. ISSN 2350-5141. http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2021/petric_zupancic.pdf, DOI: 10.20419/2021.30.528.