Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world.

Touch is the primary way people communicate intimacy in romantic relationships, and affectionate touch behaviors such as stroking, hugging and kissing are universally observed in partnerships all over the world. Here, we explored the association of love and affectionate touch behaviors in romantic partnerships in two studies comprising 7880 participants. In the first study, we used a cross-cultural survey conducted in 37 countries to test whether love was universally associated with affectionate touch behaviors. In the second study, using a more fine-tuned touch behavior scale, we tested whether the frequency of affectionate touch behaviors was related to love in romantic partnerships. As hypothesized, love was significantly and positively associated with affectionate touch behaviors in both studies and this result was replicated regardless of the inclusion of potentially relevant factors as controls. Altogether, our data strongly suggest that affectionate touch is a relatively stable characteristic of human romantic relationships that is robustly and reliably related to the degree of reported love between partners.

Modernization, collectivism, and gender equality predict love experiences in 45 countries.

Recent cross-cultural and neuro-hormonal investigations have suggested that love is a near universal phenomenon that has a biological background. Therefore, the remaining important question is not whether love exists worldwide but which cultural, social, or environmental factors influence experiences and expressions of love. In the present study, we explored whether countries' modernization indexes are related to love experiences measured by three subscales (passion, intimacy, commitment) of the Triangular Love Scale. Analyzing data from 9474 individuals from 45 countries, we tested for relationships with country-level predictors, namely, modernization proxies (i.e., Human Development Index, World Modernization Index, Gender Inequality Index), collectivism, and average annual temperatures. We found that mean levels of love (especially intimacy) were higher in countries with higher modernization proxies, collectivism, and average annual temperatures. In conclusion, our results grant some support to the hypothesis that modernization processes might influence love experiences.

Sex differences in human mate preferences vary across sex ratios.

A wide range of literature connects sex ratio and mating behaviours in non-human animals. However, research examining sex ratio and human mating is limited in scope. Prior work has examined the relationship between sex ratio and desire for short-term, uncommitted mating as well as outcomes such as marriage and divorce rates. Less empirical attention has been directed towards the relationship between sex ratio and mate preferences, despite the importance of mate preferences in the human mating literature. To address this gap, we examined sex ratio's relationship to the variation in preferences for attractiveness, resources, kindness, intelligence and health in a long-term mate across 45 countries (n = 14 487). We predicted that mate preferences would vary according to relative power of choice on the mating market, with increased power derived from having relatively few competitors and numerous potential mates. We found that each sex tended to report more demanding preferences for attractiveness and resources where the opposite sex was abundant, compared to where the opposite sex was scarce. This pattern dovetails with those found for mating strategies in humans and mate preferences across species, highlighting the importance of sex ratio for understanding variation in human mate preferences.

Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch.

Universality of the Triangular Theory of Love: Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Triangular Love Scale in 25 Countries.

The Triangular Theory of Love (measured with Sternberg's Triangular Love Scale - STLS) is a prominent theoretical concept in empirical research on love. To expand the culturally homogeneous body of previous psychometric research regarding the STLS, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural study with the use of this scale. In total, we examined more than 11,000 respondents, but as a result of applied exclusion criteria, the final analyses were based on a sample of 7332 participants from 25 countries (from all inhabited continents). We tested configural invariance, metric invariance, and scalar invariance, all of which confirmed the cultural universality of the theoretical construct of love analyzed in our study. We also observed that levels of love components differ depending on relationship duration, following the dynamics suggested in the Triangular Theory of Love. Supplementary files with all our data, including results on love intensity across different countries along with STLS versions adapted in a few dozen languages, will further enable more extensive research on the Triangular Theory of Love.

Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Across 45 Countries: A Large-Scale Replication.

Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives-an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective-offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample (N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries.

Contrasting Computational Models of Mate Preference Integration Across 45 Countries.

Humans express a wide array of ideal mate preferences. Around the world, people desire romantic partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, physically attractive, wealthy, and more. In order for these ideal preferences to guide the choice of actual romantic partners, human mating psychology must possess a means to integrate information across these many preference dimensions into summaries of the overall mate value of their potential mates. Here we explore the computational design of this mate preference integration process using a large sample of n = 14,487 people from 45 countries around the world. We combine this large cross-cultural sample with agent-based models to compare eight hypothesized models of human mating markets. Across cultures, people higher in mate value appear to experience greater power of choice on the mating market in that they set higher ideal standards, better fulfill their preferences in choice, and pair with higher mate value partners. Furthermore, we find that this cross-culturally universal pattern of mate choice is most consistent with a Euclidean model of mate preference integration.

Treatment patterns among offenders with mental health problems and substance use problems.

Research on treatment utilization among offenders with mental health problems and substance use problems, i.e. the 'triply troubled', is scarce. The aim was to contribute to the general knowledge about treatment patterns among the triply troubled. This register-based study explored treatment patterns during a 3-year follow-up among 157 Swedish offenders with substance use problems who had undergone forensic psychiatric assessment. There were three subgroups of treatment users: low treatment, planned substance abuse treatment and substance abuse emergency room visits, and planned psychiatric treatment. About 40% of the participants displayed a stable treatment pattern. Outcomes were less successful for those participants displaying a non-stable treatment pattern. Allocation of treatment resources should take into account the associations between treatment patterns and recidivism into criminality. Also, it should be valuable for clinicians to gather information on treatment history in order to meet various treatment needs.

Validation of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test in a Swedish sample of suspected offenders with signs of mental health problems: results from the Mental Disorder, Substance Abuse and Crime study.

Substance abuse is common among offenders. One method widely used for the detection of substance abuse is screening. This study explored the concurrent validity of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) screening tools in relation to (a) substance abuse and dependency diagnoses and (b) three problem severity domains of the sixth version of the Addiction Severity Index in a sample of 181 suspected offenders with signs of mental health problems. The screening tools showed moderate to high accuracy for identification of dependency diagnoses. The AUDIT was associated with alcohol problem severity, whereas the DUDIT was associated with drug and legal problem severity. Administering the screening tools in the current population yields valid results. However, the suggested cutoff scores should be applied with caution due to the discrepancy between present and previous findings.

Gender differences in re-offending among psychiatrically examined Swedish offenders.

BACKGROUND: The gender gap for violent offending is narrowing in the general population. Substance abuse and mental health problems are known risk factors for criminality. While substance abuse treatment has been associated with reduced risk of re-offending, women seem less likely to engage than men. People misusing substances tend to be high users of emergency room (ER) services. Such use may be an indicator both of treatment failure for substance misuse and offending. Little is known about gender differences in this respect. AIMS: This study aims to test for gender differences in re-offending, use of substance abuse treatment, and hospital ER visits among offenders referred for forensic psychiatric assessment in Sweden. METHOD: The study used a longitudinal retrospective design. Data on all 31 women from a 2-year (2000-2001) cohort of serious offenders referred for forensic psychiatric assessment in Stockholm county, and 31 men from the same cohort, were extracted from forensic service and national records. Selection of the men was by initial random sampling followed by matching on age and substance misuse. The two resulting samples were compared on health service use and re-offending data between release and the census date (30 April 2004). RESULTS: There were no gender differences for violent re-offending or for engagement in planned substance abuse treatment, in spite of longer time at risk for the men. Re-offending was reduced for women but not men who did not present in the ER with physical health problems. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is limited by sample size, although it included all women referred to the specialist forensic psychiatric service over 2 years, but it does indicate that differences between men and women in this situation are likely, and worthy of further study. The only way of achieving adequate sample sizes is likely to be through multi-centre collaboration.

The role of shyness and self-focused attention for attribution of reactions in social situations to internal and external causes.

The hypothesis that shyness would be associated with attribution of emotional reactions to stable internal causes rather than to less stable internal and external causes was tested in Study 1 (N = 60). In Study 2 (N= 112) the hypothesis that the explanatory power of shyness would decrease once the effect of self-focused attention on attribution to stable internal causes had been controlled for was tested. The results confirmed both hypotheses. Shyness correlated positively with attribution to stable internal causes, but non-significant with attribution to less stable internal and external causes. Shyness explained a lesser portion of the variance in attribution to both of the internal causes when controlling for self-focus. Even though the findings indicate that self-focus is central to the social cognitive processes of shy individuals, they also suggest that self-focus cannot fully explain attribution to internal causes in general and shy individuals' attributional pattern in particular.