New research identifies 4 main types of lover: This is what your love style says about you
Over the past decade, our obsession with love languages and attachment styles have changed how we communicate our romantic tendencies. But now researchers have identified a new way to categorise our love.
Led by Australian National University PhD candidate in biological anthropology Adam Bode, the paper found that there are four different types of lover. They were:
Mild romantic lovers
Moderate romantic lovers
Libidinous romantic lovers
Intense romantic lovers
The study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, defined these categories while looking at over 800 young people who were in love. The researchers claimed this four-cluster solution 'makes sense theoretically and is consistent with current limited understanding of the psychological expression of romantic love and understanding of individual differences and evolutionary theory'.
The 4 types of romantic lovers
Mild romantic lovers
The mild romantic lovers show the lowest intensity of romantic love, obsessive thinking, commitment and frequency of sex.
They make up 20.02% of the population and are most commonly heterosexual men. The paper found they: have fallen in love the greatest number of times; have the shortest length of time in love; were the least likely to have fallen in love before commencement of their romantic relationship; fell in love the longest length of time after having started a romantic relationship; and had the lowest proportion whose partner is 'definitely' in love with them.
In short: they don't seem to fall in love quickly or for long.
The research also found they have the highest proportion of participants who are dating and not-cohabiting, and are the least satisfied with their relationship. Mild romantic lovers also score the lowest for health and functioning, relationships-related quality of life (although their score is still good).
Moderate romantic lovers
Moderate romantic lovers are the biggest cluster, with 40.91% of people falling into this category. They exhibit relatively low intensity, relatively low obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment and relatively moderate frequency of sex.
They are most notably characterised by unexceptional romantic love characteristics, write the researchers. Moderate romantic lovers are more likely to be male than female and the least likely to have children.
They're also the least likely to be report being impatient or irritable and having quarrels and the most likely to report feeling self-confident. 'Otherwise, moderate romantic lovers are entirely unremarkable,' says the study.
Libidinous romantic lovers
This is the smallest cluster, with just 9.64 % of participants falling into this category. They exhibit relatively high intensity, obsessive thinking and commitment. Most notably, they have an exceptionally high frequency of sex: an average of 10 times a week.
Libidinous romantic lovers are slightly more likely to be male than female and had the lowest proportion identifying as a non-traditional gender. They had the highest proportion who were in a committed relationship but were not co-habiting and the best relationships-related quality of life.
Those in this category also reported the least amount of anxiety, worry and depression – though the highest proportion takings SSRIs.
Intense romantic lovers
The intense romantic lovers are the second largest cluster, with 29.42 % of people falling into this category. They exhibit the highest intensity, obsessive thinking and commitment, and a relatively high frequency of sex.
'By all accounts, this cluster is intensely in love,' say the researchers. They have the highest proportion of people who fell in love before their romantic relationship and the lowest proportion of unreciprocated love. Intense romantic lovers are the only group with more females than males and had the highest proportion identifying with a non-traditional genders.
Intense romantic lovers had the highest relationships satisfaction. They also rated their own and their partner's attractiveness the highest. They were the most agreeable and conscientious of all the categories too.
What does your romantic personality mean for you?
The main takeaway from this study is that people love differently. The researchers take an evolutionarily interest, stating: 'That variation has been demonstrated in this study indicates that it is possible that romantic love is still subject to evolutionary selection. It may also indicate that different groups represent different strategies in terms of mate choice, courtship, sex and pair bond formation.'
That in itself should be a reminder to all of us to not judge the way someone approaches a relationship: it might be how they're evolutionarily wired.
Much like the romantic categorisations that came before, use these personality types as interesting insight into your personality – not a prescription.
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