Are you a “libidinous romantic lover”? Or more of a “moderate romantic”?
A study claims to have identified four types of “romantic lover” among those involved in the early years of a relationship.
Adam Bode, a PhD candidate in biological anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, has analysed thousands of responses to the “Romantic Love Survey”, carried out in 2022 and created by Bode and Professor Phil Kavanagh.
The study consisted of those who had been love for 23 months or less, were aged 18 to 25, and who had self-reported being in love with a romantic partner.
Bode’s findings, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, identified four “clusters” of romantic lovers described as either “mild” “moderate”, “libidinous” or ‘intense’.
Less than 10 per cent of those in love were “libidinous” – a group characterised by a very high frequency of sex – an average of ten times a week, up to 20 times – and having been in love for the longest length of time.
They were slightly more likely to be male.
“The UK had pretty low levels of libidinous romantic lovers, suggesting that Brits may not be having as much fun between the sheets as people in other countries,” Bode told The i Paper.
People in Greece were the most likely to be libidinous lovers, according to the study.
About one in five people were classed as “mild romantic lovers”. They displayed “the lowest intensity, lowest obsessive thinking, lowest commitment, and lowest frequency of sex”.
The largest cluster were moderate lovers, at 40 per cent of respondents. They were characterised by low intensity, relatively low obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and relatively moderate frequency of sex, the study found.
Intense lovers were those who exhibited “the highest intensity, highest obsessive thinking, highest commitment, and relatively high frequency of sex”. About 29 per cent of respondents fell into this category, and six in 10 of those were female.
Bode’s study defines romantic love as a “motivational state typically associated with a desire for long-term mating with a particular individual”.
He believes it probably evolved from maternal love some time around two million years ago in human history.
“In maternal love, it makes sense that the mother would think obsessively about her infant, so she doesn’t forget to take care of them,” Bode said.
“In romantic love, the function of obsessive thinking is less clear.
“Some have argued that it plays a role in the building of long-term relationships.
“I think it may also play a role in ensuring fidelity, and making sure that we continue to focus on that special someone.
“Once again, the differences may simply be the result of normal variation. I suspect that people who obsess more in romantic love are less likely to find alternative sexual partners.
“But honestly, the function of obsessive thinking remains a mystery.”
Bode says variation in psychological traits is a common feature of evolution but it remains unclear why these different types of romantic lover continue to promote survival and reproduction.
Libidinous romantic lovers who are having sex up to 20 times a week are “an unusual group”, he added.
“In our evolutionary history, having sex 3-4 times per week would have been sufficient to ensure pregnancy of the female,” he said.
“Having sex ten times per week would certainly do the job.
“My thought is that the high levels of sexual activity in this group may not actually be related to romantic love, and may rather be a by-product of underlying sex drive in the population.
“There are some people with extremely high sex drives, and this may simply manifest in romantic love when both partners are generally happy to have sex whenever the other partner initiates it.
“There are some peculiarities about this group, including having the highest rates of increased tobacco smoking and spending more money since falling in love.
“This indicates to me that they may have underlaying traits that promote this increased sexual frequency.”
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