Development and Validity Evidence of the Myths of Romantic Love Multidimensional Scale (MRL-MS) in Young Chileans

Romantic love myths refer to culturally shared beliefs about love, falling in love and relationships. Their study and evaluation are of utmost importance, given that they have been recognized as a risk factor in dating violence with serious implications for the well-being and mental health of young people. The aim of the present study was therefore to develop a scale to evaluate beliefs about romantic love, establishing evidence of reliability and validity for the interpretation of the scores obtained. An instrumental cross-sectional design was carried out, applying the Multidimensional Romantic Love Myths Scale (MRL-MS) to a sample of 1001 Chilean young people between 18 and 25 years of age. As a result, a scale composed of 40 items assessing 8 interrelated dimensions was obtained, with evidence of validity based on internal structure, adequate levels of reliability, and evidence of metric and scalar invariance between sexes. Finally, the limitations of the study are discussed and possible applications and guidelines for future research are proposed.

Los mitos del amor romántico refieren a creencias culturalmente compartidas sobre el amor, el enamoramiento y las relaciones de pareja. Su estudio y evaluación son de suma importancia, dado que se han reconocido como un factor de riesgo en la violencia en el noviazgo con graves implicancia en el bienestar y salud mental de los jóvenes. Por tanto, el objetivo del presente estudio es desarrollar una escala que permita evaluar las creencias sobre el amor romántico, estableciendo evidencias de fiabilidad y validez para la interpretación de las puntuaciones obtenidas. Se llevó a cabo un diseño transversal de tipo instrumental, aplicando la Escala Multidimensional Mitos del Amor Romántico (MRL-MS) a una muestra de 1001 jóvenes chilenos entre 18 y 25 años. Como resultado, se obtuvo una escala compuesta por 40 ítems que evalúan 8 dimensiones interrelacionadas, con evidencia de validez basada en la estructura interna, adecuados niveles de fiabilidad, y evidencias de invarianza métrica y escalar entre sexos. Finalmente, se discuten las limitaciones del estudio y se proponen posibles aplicaciones y directrices para futuras investigaciones.

Jealousy, sexism, and romantic love myths: the role of beliefs in online dating violence.

With the massification of the Internet and social networks, a new form of dating violence called cyber-violence has emerged, which involves behaviors of control, humiliation, intimidation and threats towards the partner or ex-partner. Using a non-probabilistic sample of 1,001 participants aged 18 to 25 years, the present study used an ex post facto, retrospective, cross-sectional, single-group design to analyze the joint effects that beliefs associated with dating violence such as romantic love myths, jealousy, and sexism have on the victimization and perpetration of cyber-violence. The results evidenced that jealousy is involved in both Cyber-victimization and Cyber-harassment perpetrated, while sexist beliefs are only involved in perpetration. In the discussion section, it is postulated that cyber-violence is a phenomenon that is more related to the probability of aggression, but not to the probability of being a victim. Finally, limitations and implications for future research are discussed.