love attitudes

8/7/2019 love attitudes

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Attitudes toward Love: A Reexamination

Author(s): Dennis E. Hinkle and Michael J. SporakowskiSource: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 37, No. 4, Special Section: Macrosociology of theFamily (Nov., 1975), pp. 764-767Published by: National Council on Family RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/350827 .

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Att i tude s T o w a r d L o v e : A Reexamination*DENNIS E. HINKLEANDMICHAEL J. SPORAKOWSKI**

VirginiaPolytechnic Institute and State UniversityTheKnox-SporakowskiAttitudes TowardsLove scale was subjected tofactor analy-sis. Principal component analysis indicated unidimensionality of the scale. Addition-al analyses suggested thepossibility of three subscales. Labels for the subscales wereassigned. Suggestions for further research with the scale were made.

Knox and Sporakowski (1968) reported onthe development and use of a scale whichmeasured an individual's expressed attitudestowards love on a continuum from "Ro-mantic" to "Conjugal." This scale had beendeveloped using the "panel of judges"technique and a high and low quartilecomparison of results as the basis for an itemanalysis. Twenty-nine items out of theoriginal 200 significantly discriminated be-tween the groups compared. Original find-ings indicated that: females were lessromantic in attitudes towards love thanmales; with increasing age both males andfemales became less romantic in orientations;and, for males, becoming engaged led to amore realistic attitude toward love (femaleshad similar attitudes whether they wereengaged or not).Kanin, Davidson and Scheck (1970)discuss male-female differentials in theexperience of heterosexual love, and concludethat labeling "more" or "less romantic" maybe unwarranted or fruitless.More recently, Knox (1970) used a scalethat included 84 items in measuring attitudestowards love across a wider range of agegroups. He found that: conceptions of lovevary across stages of marriage; and, aromantic conception of love is not incompat-ible with marriages that have been inexistence more than 20 years. The compari-sons involved high school seniors, persons

married less than 5 years, and personsmarried more than 20 years. The resultingscale (Knox, 1971) included 30 items of 40which discriminated at the p < .01 level andwere judged by Knox as being most useful.ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

The present study was an attempt to clarifywhat the original Knox-Sporakowski scale ismeasuring in hopes of assessing its utility infuture as well as past research. The generalassumption of this study was that theKnox-Sporakowski scale is unidimensional,but it was also assumed that severalintercorrelated subscales exist. Thus factoranalysis methodology, specifically, principalcomponent analysis, was employed toinvestigate these assumptions. Principalcomponent analysis was selected as the mostappropriate factor analytic methodology forthis investigation since the study was toinvestigate the total variation of the scaleitems without regard to whether the variancewas common or unique.The subjects used in this investigation were234 undergraduate students enrolled inMHFD 3200, The Individual and Marriage,at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and StateUniversity. These students completed theoriginal Knox-Sporakowski scale as part ofthe materials used in the section of the coursedealing with love as a motivation formarriage. The first step in the data analysiswas the determination of the 29x29 correla-tion matrix for the scale items usingBMD-03D (correlation with item deletion) topairwise delete all missing data (maximumpairs deleted for any scale item -- 7). Thiscorrelation matrix was then used as input toBMD-08M (factor analysis).

*Data for this study were compiled betweenSeptember, 1973, and December, 1974.**Department of Management, Housing and FamilyDevelopment, College of Home Economics, VirginiaPolytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg,Virginia 24061.

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TABLE1. INITIALPRINCIPALCOMPONENTSANALYSIS:TRUNCATEDMODELFactorItem 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 0.54 --0.08 --0.07 --0.19 --0.04 --0.22 --0.03 --0.212 0.38 --0.06 0.45 0.14 --0.37 --0.10 0.32 --0.083 0.43 0.04 0.01 --0.23 0.16 0.12 0.42 --0.314 0.35 0.07 0.27 0.48 --0.05 --0.22 0.01 --0.275 0.27 --0.13 --0.34 0.05 --0.26 --0.22 0.33 0.176 0.38 --0.17 --0.30 --0.10 0.40 --0.27 0.16 0.117 0.38 0.44 0.26 --0.30 0.01 0.04 --0.13 0.218 0.42 0.49 0.05 --0.17 0.23 0.04 0.10 --0.109 0.37 0.56 0.06 0.17 --0.12 0.00 --0.15 --0.1110 0.39 0.40 0.22 0.13 0.08 0.05 --0.17 0.1011 0.53 --0.41 0.28 --0.27 --0.07 0.16 0.07 0.0212 0.38 --0.25 0.11 --0.16 0.12 0.53 --0.05 --0.3013 0.54 0.11 --0.38 --0.34 --0.19 --0.16 --0.26 --0.0214 0.51 0.33 --0.10 --0.19 0.03 0.05 0.41 0.0915 0.35 --0.06 --0.37 0.32 --0.20 --0.02 --0.07 --0.3716 0.61 --0.00 0.05 --0.15 --0.22 --0.22 --0.07 0.0817 0.33 0.05 0.46 --0.21 0.05 --0.44 --0.18 0.1018 0.49 0.08 --0.33 0.28 0.18 0.15 0.04 0.19

19 0.39 --0.26 --0.10 0.38 0.30 0.03 0.02 0.1320 0.54 --0.28 --0.23 --0.05 0.07 --0.03 --0.16 --0.1021 0.54 -0.10 0.21 0.08 0.15 --0.06 --0.12 --0.3722 0.53 --0.27 0.13 0.29 0.07 --0.14 --0.14 0.0623 0.53 --0.05 --0.33 --0.21 --0.35 --0.05 --0.17 0.0924 0.34 --0.46 0.38 0.00 --0.32 0.17 0.10 0.1625 0.41 --0.04 --0.26 --0.13 --0.18 0.43 --0.20 -0.1026 0.41 0.12 --0.21 0.41 --0.12 --0.02 --0.07 0.1227 0.46 0.44 0.10 0.27 --0.17 0.35 0.13 0.1828 0.51 --0.38 0.15 0.08 0.18 0.13 --0.14 0.3929 0.58 0.04 0.04 --0.03 0.43 --0.05 0.07 0.03

In the initial principal components analy-sis, eight factors were extracted using as thecriterion eigenvalues greater than 1.0 as thecutoff for extraction of factors. The factormatrix for this initial extraction is found inTable 1.As can be seen from the results of thisanalysis, the scale does appear to beunidimensional based upon the loadings onthe first factor or the principal component.The criterion used to come to this conclusionwas a factor loading of .30416 or greaterwhich is one-half of the maximum loading onthe principal component. The exception wasitem five with a factor loading of .27143. This29x8 factor matrix was rotated obliquely todetermine if at this stage of the analysis asimple factor structure existed. No simplestructure was evidenced.Additional analyses were performed in anattempt to investigate the second assumptionin this study, i.e., several intercorrelatedsubscales exist. In these analyses, the numberof factors rotated was reduced sequentiallyfrom seven to two. Each of the factor matrices

was rotated obliquely since it was determinedthat the scale appeared to be unidimensional;thus, the subscales would necessarily beintercorrelated. Each of the factor structureswas then subjected to review by the authors.It was concluded that, as the number offactors to be rotated was reduced from sevento two, the factor structures became morelogical in defining distant factors, with the29x3 obliquely rotated factor matrix beingthe most logical. The factor pattern matrix ispresented in Table 2. As can be seen, 25 of the29 items had high loadings identified with aunique factor; only items 3, 4, 16 and 29evidenced factorial complexity; these itemshad moderate loadings on two or morefactors. Based upon this analysis and reviewof item groupings, the names given to thethree factors were as follows:Factor I-Traditional Love-One PersonFactor II-Love Overcomes AllFactor III-IrrationalityThe matrix of intercorrelations among thethree factors is presented in Table 3. Itindicated that there did exist, within the

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TABLE 2. OBLIQUELY ROTATED FACTOR MATRIXFactor

Item I II III1. When you are really in love, you just aren't interested in anyone else. 0.40 0.12 0.265. To be in love with someone without marriage is a tragedy. 0.47 ---0.10 --0.026. When love hits, you know it. 0.50 ---0.79 0.0813. Usually there are only one or two people in the world whom you could reallylove and could really be happy with. 0.61 0.21 --0.0815. It is necessaryto be in love with the one you marryto be happy. 0.53 --0.02 --0.0618. Loveis regarded as a primarymotive for marriage, which is good. 0.54 0.18 --0.0419. When you love a person, you think of marryingthat person. 0.33 --0.11 0.2820. Somewherethere is an ideal mate for most people. The problem is justfinding that one. 0.54 -0.11 0.2823. There are probably only a few people that any one person can fall inlove with. 0.59 0.07 0.0525. Loveoften comes but once in a lifetime. 0.46 0.06 0.0426. You can't make yourself love someone; it just comes or it doesn't. 0.39 0.22 --0.032. Love doesn't make sense. It just is. --0.20 0.26 0.5411. When you are in love, you are usually in a daze. 0.09 --0.09 0.7112. Love at first sight is often the deepest and most enduring type of love. 0.14 --0.05 0.4217. Parents should not advise their children whom to date; they have forgottenwhat it is like to be in love. -0.24 0.30 0.4421. Jealousyusuallyvaries directly with love; that the more in love you are,the greater the tendency for you to become jealous. 0.12 0.18 0.4722. Loveis best described as an exciting thing rather than a calm thing. 0.20 --0.00 0.5224. When you are in love, your judgment is usually not too clear. --0.09 -0.18 0.7228. Day dreaming usually comes along with being in love. 0.20 --0.10 0.59

3. When you fall head-over-heels-in-love, it's sure to be the real thing. 0.22 0.21 0.194. Loveisn't anything you can reallystudy; it is too highly emotional to besubject to scientific observation. -0.06 0.28 0.3116. When you areseparatedfrom the love partner, the rest of the world seemsdull and unsatisfying. 0.28 0.25 0.3329. When you are in love, you don't have to ask yourself a bunch of questionsabout love; you will just know that you are in love. 0.26 0.29 0.28

7. Common interests are really unimportant; as long as each of you is truly inlove, you will adjust. ---0.10 0.63 0.088. It doesn't matter if you marryafteryou have known your partner for only ashort time as long as you know you are in love. 0.10 0.64 --0.089. As long as two people love each other, the religious differences they have reallydo not matter. 0.07 0.68 --0.1410. You can love someone even though you do not like any of that person's friends. --0.05 0.59 0.0814. Regardless of other factors, if you truly love another person, that is enough tomarrythat person. 0.32 0.49 --0.0427. Differences in social class and religion are of small importance in selecting amarriage partner as compared with love. 0.09 0.62 0.00unidimensional scale, three correlated yetdistinct factors, i.e., verifying the secondassumption. Subsequent principal compo-nent analysis excluding items 3, 4, 16 and 29resulted in highly similar factor structuresand intercorrelations of the three factors.

In the final analysis of this investigation,the matrix of intercorrelations among thethree factors served as the input for asecond-order principal component analysis.The purpose of this analysis was to check on

TABLE 3. FACTOR CORRELATION MATRIXI II III

I 1.00 0.21 0.28II 1.00 0.241II 1.00the unidimensionality of the scale and therelative strength of each of the factors in theprincipal component. The full model wasextracted overriding the eigenvalue criterionof 1.0 for truncating the model. The

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TABLE 4. SECOND ORDER FACTOR MATRIXFactors

I II III1. 0.74 0.67 ---0.042. 0.75 ---0.29 0.593. 0.75 ---0.3'7 0.55

second-orderfactormatrixfor the full modelis found in Table 4. The results of thisanalysisindicateda furtherstrengtheningofthe assumptionthat the scale was unidi-mensional.The data also indicateFactorsIIand III are more intercorrelated withthemselves than with Factor I (see fullmodel),but all three had equal strengthonthe PrincipalComponent.CONCLUSIONSANDRECOMMENDATIONSBased upon the resultsof this investiga-tion, the authors concluded that theassumptionthat the Knox-Sporakowskiscalewas unidimensionalwith several intercor-relatedsubscaleswas confirmed.Sinceeachof the factors was shown to have equalstrengthon the PrincipalComponent,theprocess of scoring the Knox-Sporakowskiscaleshouldbe investigatedfurther.Previousinvestigationsassumedequalweightingof the

29 items. The presentdata suggestthat anitemweightingbaseduponfactoranalysisbeconsideredsince therearedifferingnumbersof itemsin eachof the subscales.If this scalewereto be used with a groupsimilarin ageand educationallevel, the followingweight-ingsarerecommended,basedon the presentanalysis(seeTable5).Usingtheseweightingsthree factorscores,onefor eachsubscale,canbe computed.Theresearchercould use either the three factorscoresindescribingthesubscalesindividuallyorsum the threefactorscoresanduse this asthe total score. However, before such aprocedurewould be employedacrossall age

TABLE 5. ITEM WEIGHTSItem Weight Item Weight

1 0.05 16*2 0.17 17 0.113* .18 0.214*.19

0.115 0.06 20 0.186 0.11 21 0.127 0.22 22 0.138 0.21 23 0.169 0.22 24 0.2710 0.18 25 0.1311 0.25 26 0.1712 0.14 27 0.1613 0.16 28 0.1814 0.13 29*15 0.24

*These items loaded on more than one factor. There-fore, no weights should be assigned to these items inusing the instrument with the age and educational levelsdescribed.and educational levels, stable weightingsshould be established through subsequentanalysis on additional subjects. It is alsosuggestedthat thefour itemswhichloadedonmore than one of the factors be furtherexploredand an evaluationmadeas to theircontributionto the overallscale.

REFERENCESKanin, E. J., K. R. Davidson, and S. R. Scheck1970 "A research note on male-female differentials in

the experience of heterosexual love." The Jour-nal of Sex Research 6 (February):64-72.Knox, D. H.1970 "Conceptions of love at three developmentalstages." The Family Coordinator 19 (April):151-157.

1971 Discussion Guide to accompany A Love Atti-tude Inventory. Saluda, N.C.: Family LifePublications.Knox, D. H. and M. J. Sporakowski

1968 "College students attitudes toward love." Jour-nal of Marriage and the Family 30 (November):638-642.

November1975 JOURNALOF MARRIAGEAND THE FAMILY 767

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