Using Chapman's Five Love Languages Theory to Predict Love and Relationship Satisfaction.

Hughes, Jennifer L.; Camden, Abigail A.

Chapman (2015) proposed a popular love language theory about couples' communication of love. For the present study, we predicted that partners who perceived that their partner used their preferred love language well would report greater feelings of love and relationship satisfaction. We expected this would be the same for both women and men, as well as those in heterosexual and gay relationships. We recruited 981 individuals in couples to complete online surveys. Using multiple regression, we found support for our hypothesis that a partner's perception that their partner was using their preferred love language well would increase love (i.e., words of affirmation R2 = .26, quality time R2 = .23, gifts R2 = .17, acts of service R2 = .25, and physical touch R2 = .24) and relationship satisfaction (i.e., words of affirmation R2 = .32, quality time R2 = .24, gifts R2 = .11, acts of service R2 = .20, and physical touch R2 = .24). Unexpectedly, we found that women who thought their partners were using their preferred love language (i.e., gifts, acts of service, and physical touch) well reported greater feelings of love as compared to men. This research provided some support for teaching people in romantic relationships how to learn and use their partner's preferred love languages well. In addition, partners should be taught to recognize when their partners are attempting to use their preferred love language because this could lead to increased feelings of love and relationship satisfaction.

SATISFACTION; DYADIC communication; GAY male relationships; LOVE; GAY couples; COMPUTER surveys

Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 2020, Vol 25, p234

2164-8204

Academic Journal

10.24839/2325-7342.JN25.3.234