A new questionnaire for measuring interest in a stable love relationship
Marcello Passarelli, Giulio Vidotto
Previous studies traditionally took for granted the fact that everyone presents high interest in having a romantic partner (McKinney & Sprecher, 1991). This assumption may be wrong, in particular among gay males. The objective of this study was to create a questionnaire named Love Interest Scale (LIS), which is brief, multidimensional and potentially administrable to individuals of any sexual orientation. Its internal consistency and structural validity are evaluated on a sample composed of gay males. The questionnaire was administered to 177 homosexual men from Italy. An exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were executed. The CFA was executed both with and without parcelling.
The questionnaire is composed of 43 items divided into four factors: «emotional sphere» (12 items); «lack of investment» (14 items); «desire for support» (9 items); «desire for family» (8 items). The analysis showed a clear multifactorial nature of the analysed construct. The «lack of investment»
factor is of particular interest, suggesting that some people may be discouraged from pursuing a love relationship because they feel they have few resources to invest.
Keywords
Commitment, Love relationships, Gay/Lesbian Relationships, Homosexuality, Love.
