A quantitative and qualitative assessment of mature passionate love

The theories of Fromm (1962) and Schnarch (1991, 1997) were used to develop items for a scale measuring mature passionate love, the Assessment of Mature Passionate Love (AMPL). Passionate love was conceptualised as involving the seven qualities of affection, differentiation, engagement, enthusiasm, eroticism, openness/trust and transcendence. In study one, 187 participants gave qualitative descriptions of the important characteristics of mature passionate love and this provided support for these seven- hypothesised domains. Items representing these seven domains were factor analysed separately. Then, these items were pooled for factor analysis, fielding a three-factor solution: Affectionate Engagement, Transcendence and Eroticism. The second study involved factor analysing data from 298 respondents to produce a 31-item version of the scale (AMPL2) which included the factors of: Affection/Arousal, Differentiation, Sexual Openness, Trust and Transcendence. The AMPL2 was reliable and its correlation with other passionate love and relationship scales provided evidence of validity. Respondents reported mystical peak experiences in love and sex in both studies, which were consistent with Schnarch's (1991, 1997) and Maslow's (1970) theories and case studies. This research challenged Hatfield's (1988) notion that passionate love usually gives way to companionate love, a more friendship based love. The AMPL2 measure was developed with a sample that was extremely in love, limiting its generalisability. Therefore, the scale would benefit from further development with a range of samples. However, preliminary evidence suggests that passionate love can usefully be conceptualised more broadly than it has been in the past, by including non-sexual and transcendent sexual qualities. This broader conceptualisation may better represent qualities valuable to longer term and older lovers. The place of mature passionate love in relationship resilience and satisfaction could then be researched and discussed and constructive models of mature love developed.