Intimacy, passion, and commitment among married individuals: further testing of the triangular theory of love

The Triangular Theory of Love has created much interest among researchers in relational communication. Previous attempts at evaluating the theory have proven problematic. Specifically, the problems centered around the measurement of the theory's three components of intimacy, passion, commitment. Recent research, which employed a new measure, offered support for the theory's primary assumptions. To expand upon this, the current study factor analyzed data from a sample of 213 married individuals. Current results provided support for the triangular theory's primary assumptions. The principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation indicated support for three distinct and reliable factors. The three components were also significantly related to scores for relational satisfaction. Stepwise regression analysis indicated that each component was a significant predictor of relational satisfaction. Men scored significantly higher on intimacy than women.