Students’ Expectations for Marriage and Styles of Love

People experience love in many different and unique ways. Stereotypically, college students are seen as engaging in loving relationships overcome with passion and intimacy. This belief adds validity to the idea that college students are not ready to marry because they are too caught up in the passion and intimacy of the relationship. This can prohibit them from properly understanding what it actually takes to maintain a happy marriage. The current study addresses the question of whether a college student’s style of loving is related to their current expectations of marriage. Ninety-nine participants were given a survey consisting of a demographic survey, the Marriage Expectation Scale (Jones, 1954), and the Love Attitudes Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1986). It is expected that college students with realistic expectations for marriage will report higher levels of storge, pragma, and agape love styles, where as those with unrealistic expectations for marriage (pessimistic or idealistic) will report higher levels of eros, ludus, and mania love styles.