Browsing by Author "Kowal, Marta"

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Cross-Cultural Data on Romantic Love and Mate Preferences From 117,293 Participants Across 175 Countries
(Nature Research, 2025) Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Gjoneska, Biljana; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Pfuhl, Gerit; Aguilar, Leonardo; Prazeres, Filipe
Psychological studies on close relationships have often overlooked cultural diversity, dynamic processes, and potentially universal principles that shape intimate partnerships. To address the limited generalizability of previous research and advance our understanding of romantic love experiences, mate preferences, and physical attractiveness, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural survey study on these topics. A total of 404 researchers collected data in 45 languages from April to August 2021, involving 117,293 participants from 175 countries. Aside from standard demographic questions, the survey included valuable information on variables relevant to romantic relationships: intimate, passionate, and committed love within romantic relationships, physical-attractiveness enhancing behaviors, gender equality endorsement, collectivistic attitudes, personal history of pathogenic diseases, relationship quality, jealousy, personal involvement in sexual and/or emotional infidelity, relational mobility, mate preferences, and acceptance of sugar relationships. The resulting dataset provides a rich resource for investigating patterns within, and associations across, a broad range of variables relevant to romantic relationships, with extensive opportunities to analyze individual experiences worldwide.
Citation - WoS: 5
Citation - Scopus: 5
Exploring Attitudes Toward Sugar Relationships Across 87 Countries: a Global Perspective on Exchanges of Resources for Sex and Companionship
(Springer/Plenum Publishers, 2023) Mesko, Norbert; Kowal, Marta; Lang, Andras; Koçsor, Ferenc; Bandi, Szabolcs A.; Putz, Adam; Sorokowski, Piotr; Dural, Seda; Han, Hyemin
The current study investigates attitudes toward one form of sex for resources: the so-called sugar relationships, which often involve exchanges of resources for sex and/or companionship. The present study examined associations among attitudes toward sugar relationships and relevant variables (e.g., sex, sociosexuality, gender inequality, parasitic exposure) in 69,924 participants across 87 countries. Two self-report measures of Acceptance of Sugar Relationships (ASR) developed for younger companion providers (ASR-YWMS) and older resource providers (ASR-OMWS) were translated into 37 languages. We tested cross-sex and cross-linguistic construct equivalence, cross-cultural invariance in sex differences, and the importance of the hypothetical predictors of ASR. Both measures showed adequate psychometric properties in all languages (except the Persian version of ASR-YWMS). Results partially supported our hypotheses and were consistent with previous theoretical considerations and empirical evidence on human mating. For example, at the individual level, sociosexual orientation, traditional gender roles, and pathogen prevalence were significant predictors of both ASR-YWMS and ASR-OMWS. At the country level, gender inequality and parasite stress positively predicted the ASR-YWMS. However, being a woman negatively predicted the ASR-OMWS, but positively predicted the ASR-YWMS. At country-level, ingroup favoritism and parasite stress positively predicted the ASR-OMWS. Furthermore, significant cross-subregional differences were found in the openness to sugar relationships (both ASR-YWMS and ASR-OMWS scores) across subregions. Finally, significant differences were found between ASR-YWMS and ASR-OMWS when compared in each subregion. The ASR-YWMS was significantly higher than the ASR-OMWS in all subregions, except for Northern Africa and Western Asia.
Citation - WoS: 13
Citation - Scopus: 13
Love and Affectionate Touch Toward Romantic Partners All Over the World
(Nature Portfolio, 2023) Sorokowska; Kowal; Saluja; Aavik; Alm,; Anjum,; Asao; Can, Seda; Dural, Seda; Aavik, Toivo; Kowal, Marta; Alm, Charlotte; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Anjum, Afifa; Croy, Ilona; Saluja, Supreet
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.
Citation - WoS: 9
Citation - Scopus: 9
Love as a Commitment Device
(Springer, 2024) Kowal, Marta; Bode, Adam; Koszalkowska, Karolina; Roberts, S. Craig; Gjoneska, Biljana; Frederick, David; Sorokowski, Piotr; Dural, Seda; Koszałkowska, Karolina
Given the ubiquitous nature of love, numerous theories have been proposed to explain its existence. One such theory refers to love as a commitment device, suggesting that romantic love evolved to foster commitment between partners and enhance their reproductive success. In the present study, we investigated this hypothesis using a large-scale sample of 86,310 individual responses collected across 90 countries. If romantic love is universally perceived as a force that fosters commitment between long-term partners, we expected that individuals likely to suffer greater losses from the termination of their relationships-including people of lower socioeconomic status, those with many children, and women-would place a higher value on romantic love compared to people with higher status, those with fewer children, and men. These predictions were supported. Additionally, we observed that individuals from countries with a higher (vs. lower) Human Development Index placed a greater level of importance on romantic love, suggesting that modernization might influence how romantic love is evaluated. On average, participants worldwide were unwilling to commit to a long-term romantic relationship without love, highlighting romantic love's universal importance.
Citation - WoS: 28
Citation - Scopus: 30
Modernization, Collectivism, and Gender Equality Predict Love Experiences in 45 Countries
(Nature Research, 2023) Sorokowski P.; Kowal M.; Sternberg R.J.; Aavik T.; Akello G.; Alhabahba M.M.; Alm C.; Dural, Seda; Aavik, Toivo; Kowal, Marta; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Sternberg, Robert J.; Akello, Grace; Alhabahba, Mohammad Madallh; Sorokowski, Piotr
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. © 2023, The Author(s).
Citation - WoS: 38
Citation - Scopus: 40
Predictors of Enhancing Human Physical Attractiveness: Data From 93 Countries
(Elsevier Science Inc, 2022) Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Valentova, Jaroslava V.; Varella, Marco A. C.; Frederick, David A.; Al-Shawaf, Laith; Can, Seda; Dural, Seda; Zumárraga-Espinosa, Marcos
People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypotheses drawn from other influential and non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks, from biosocial role theory to a cultural media perspective. Survey data from 93,158 human participants across 93 countries provide evidence that behaviors such as applying makeup or using other cosmetics, hair grooming, clothing style, caring for body hygiene, and exercising or following a specific diet for the specific purpose of improving ones physical attractiveness, are universal. Indeed, 99% of participants reported spending >10 min a day performing beauty-enhancing behaviors. The results largely support evolutionary hypotheses: more time was spent enhancing beauty by women (almost 4 h a day, on average) than by men (3.6 h a day), by the youngest participants (and contrary to predictions, also the oldest), by those with a relatively more severe history of infectious diseases, and by participants currently dating compared to those in established relationships. The strongest predictor of attractiveness-enhancing behaviors was social media usage. Other predictors, in order of effect size, included adhering to traditional gender roles, residing in countries with less gender equality, considering oneself as highly attractive or, conversely, highly unattractive, TV watching time, higher socioeconomic status, right-wing political beliefs, a lower level of education, and personal individualistic attitudes. This study provides novel insight into universal beauty-enhancing behaviors by unifying evolutionary theory with several other complementary perspectives.
Citation - WoS: 1
Citation - Scopus: 1
A Preliminary Study on the Role of Personal History of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases on Self-Reported Health Across Countries
(W B Saunders Co Ltd, 2025) Pfuhl, Gerit; Prazeres, Filipe; Kowal, Marta; Aavik, Toivo; Abad-Villaverde, Beatriz; Afhami, Reza; Sorokowski, Piotr
Objectives: Infectious diseases are often associated with decline in quality of life. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between personal history of communicable, i.e., infectious and parasitic diseases and self-rated health. Study design: Secondary analysis of a large dataset multi-country observational study. Methods: We used a four-pronged analysis approach to investigate whether personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases is related to self-reported health, measured with a single item. Results: Three of the four analyses found a small positive effect on self-reported health among those reporting a history of pathogen exposure. The meta-analysis found no support but large heterogeneity that was not reduced by two classifications of countries. Conclusion: Personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases does not reduce self-reported health across a global sample.
Citation - WoS: 26
Citation - Scopus: 29
Reasons for Facebook Usage: Data From 46 Countries
(Frontiers Media Sa, 2020) Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Dobrowolska, Malgorzata; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Oleszkiewicz, Anna; Aavik, Toivo; Dural, Seda; Zupancic, Maja
[Abstract Not Available]
Citation - WoS: 23
Citation - Scopus: 24
Validation of the Short Version (tls-15) of the Triangular Love Scale (tls-45) Across 37 Languages
(Springer/Plenum Publishers, 2023) Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Diniç, Bojana M.; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Gjoneska, Biljana; Frederick, David A.; Pfuhl, Gerit; Dural, Seda; Sternberg, Robert J.
Love is a phenomenon that occurs across the world and affects many aspects of human life, including the choice of, and process of bonding with, a romantic partner. Thus, developing a reliable and valid measure of love experiences is crucial. One of the most popular tools to quantify love is Sternberg's 45-item Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45), which measures three love components: intimacy, passion, and commitment. However, our literature review reveals that most studies (64%) use a broad variety of shortened versions of the TLS-45. Here, aiming to achieve scientific consensus and improve the reliability, comparability, and generalizability of results across studies, we developed a short version of the scale-the TLS-15-comprised of 15 items with 5-point, rather than 9-point, response scales. In Study 1 (N = 7,332), we re-analyzed secondary data from a large-scale multinational study that validated the original TLS-45 to establish whether the scale could be truncated. In Study 2 (N = 307), we provided evidence for the three-factor structure of the TLS-15 and its reliability. Study 3 (N = 413) confirmed convergent validity and test-retest stability of the TLS-15. Study 4 (N = 60,311) presented a large-scale validation across 37 linguistic versions of the TLS-15 on a cross-cultural sample spanning every continent of the globe. The overall results provide support for the reliability, validity, and cross-cultural invariance of the TLS-15, which can be used as a measure of love components-either separately or jointly as a three-factor measure.