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  1. Fulltext Love as a Commitment Device  : Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study across 90 Countries
    Kowal M, Bode A, Koszałkowska K, Roberts SC, Gjoneska B, Frederick D, et al.
    Hum Nat, 2024 Dec;35(4):430-450.
    PMID: 39725786 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-024-09482-6
    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.
  2. Global Study of Social Odor Awareness
    Sorokowska A, Groyecka A, Karwowski M, Frackowiak T, Lansford JE, Ahmadi K, et al.
    Chem. Senses, 2018 08 24;43(7):503-513.
    PMID: 29955865 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy038
    Olfaction plays an important role in human social communication, including multiple domains in which people often rely on their sense of smell in the social context. The importance of the sense of smell and its role can however vary inter-individually and culturally. Despite the growing body of literature on differences in olfactory performance or hedonic preferences across the globe, the aspects of a given culture as well as culturally universal individual differences affecting odor awareness in human social life remain unknown. Here, we conducted a large-scale analysis of data collected from 10 794 participants from 52 study sites from 44 countries all over the world. The aim of our research was to explore the potential individual and country-level correlates of odor awareness in the social context. The results show that the individual characteristics were more strongly related than country-level factors to self-reported odor awareness in different social contexts. A model including individual-level predictors (gender, age, material situation, education, and preferred social distance) provided a relatively good fit to the data, but adding country-level predictors (Human Development Index, population density, and average temperature) did not improve model parameters. Although there were some cross-cultural differences in social odor awareness, the main differentiating role was played by the individual differences. This suggests that people living in different cultures and different climate conditions may still share some similar patterns of odor awareness if they share other individual-level characteristics.
  3. Corrigendum: The Associations of Dyadic Coping and Relationship Satisfaction Vary between and within Nations: A 35-Nation Study
    Hilpert P, Randall AK, Sorokowski P, Atkins DC, Sorokowska A, Ahmadi K, et al.
    Front Psychol, 2016;7:1404.
    PMID: 27698648
    [This corrects the article on p. 1106 in vol. 7, PMID: 27551269.].
  4. Fulltext Corrigendum: Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries
    Sorokowski P, Randall AK, Groyecka A, Frackowiak T, Cantarero K, Hilpert P, et al.
    Front Psychol, 2017;8:1728.
    PMID: 29021774 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01728
    [This corrects the article on p. 1199 in vol. 8, PMID: 28785230.].
  5. Fulltext Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries
    Sorokowski P, Randall AK, Groyecka A, Frackowiak T, Cantarero K, Hilpert P, et al.
    Front Psychol, 2017;8:1199.
    PMID: 28785230 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01199
  6. Fulltext Validation of the Short Version (TLS-15) of the Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45) across 37 Languages
    Kowal M, Sorokowski P, Dinić BM, Pisanski K, Gjoneska B, Frederick DA, et al.
    Arch Sex Behav, 2024 Feb;53(2):839-857.
    PMID: 37884798 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-023-02702-7
    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.
  7. Fulltext Correction to: Validation of the Short Version (TLS-15) of the Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45) Across 37 Languages
    Kowal M, Sorokowski P, Dinić BM, Pisanski K, Gjoneska B, Frederick DA, et al.
    Arch Sex Behav, 2024 Feb;53(2):859-861.
    PMID: 38038856 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-023-02751-y
  8. Fulltext The Associations of Dyadic Coping and Relationship Satisfaction Vary between and within Nations: A 35-Nation Study
    Hilpert P, Randall AK, Sorokowski P, Atkins DC, Sorokowska A, Ahmadi K, et al.
    Front Psychol, 2016;7:1106.
    PMID: 27551269 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01106
    OBJECTIVE: Theories about how couples help each other to cope with stress, such as the systemic transactional model of dyadic coping, suggest that the cultural context in which couples live influences how their coping behavior affects their relationship satisfaction. In contrast to the theoretical assumptions, a recent meta-analysis provides evidence that neither culture, nor gender, influences the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, at least based on their samples of couples living in North America and West Europe. Thus, it is an open questions whether the theoretical assumptions of cultural influences are false or whether cultural influences on couple behavior just occur in cultures outside of the Western world.

    METHOD: In order to examine the cultural influence, using a sample of married individuals (N = 7973) from 35 nations, we used multilevel modeling to test whether the positive association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies across nations and whether gender might moderate the association.

    RESULTS: RESULTS reveal that the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies between nations. In addition, results show that in some nations the association is higher for men and in other nations it is higher for women.

    CONCLUSIONS: Cultural and gender differences across the globe influence how couples' coping behavior affects relationship outcomes. This crucial finding indicates that couple relationship education programs and interventions need to be culturally adapted, as skill trainings such as dyadic coping lead to differential effects on relationship satisfaction based on the culture in which couples live.

  9. Fulltext Contrasting Computational Models of Mate Preference Integration Across 45 Countries
    Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, Aavik T, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2019 11 15;9(1):16885.
    PMID: 31729413 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-52748-8
    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.
  10. Fulltext Reasons for Facebook Usage: Data From 46 Countries
    Kowal M, Sorokowski P, Sorokowska A, Dobrowolska M, Pisanski K, Oleszkiewicz A, et al.
    Front Psychol, 2020;11:711.
    PMID: 32425849 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00711
  11. Universality of the Triangular Theory of Love: Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Triangular Love Scale in 25 Countries
    Sorokowski P, Sorokowska A, Karwowski M, Groyecka A, Aavik T, Akello G, et al.
    J Sex Res, 2021 01;58(1):106-115.
    PMID: 32783568 DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2020.1787318
    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.
  12. Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
    Sorokowska A, Saluja S, Sorokowski P, Frąckowiak T, Karwowski M, Aavik T, et al.
    Pers Soc Psychol Bull, 2021 12;47(12):1705-1721.
    PMID: 33615910 DOI: 10.1177/0146167220988373
    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.
  13. Modernization, collectivism, and gender equality predict love experiences in 45 countries
    Sorokowski P, Kowal M, Sternberg RJ, Aavik T, Akello G, Alhabahba MM, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2023 Jan 14;13(1):773.
    PMID: 36641519 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26663-4
    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.
  14. Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Across 45 Countries: A Large-Scale Replication
    Walter KV, Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, et al.
    Psychol Sci, 2020 Apr;31(4):408-423.
    PMID: 32196435 DOI: 10.1177/0956797620904154
    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.
  15. Fulltext Sex differences in human mate preferences vary across sex ratios
    Walter KV, Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, et al.
    Proc Biol Sci, 2021 Jul 28;288(1955):20211115.
    PMID: 34284630 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1115
    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.
  16. A preliminary study on the role of personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases on self-reported health across countries
    Pfuhl G, Prazeres F, Kowal M, Aavik T, Abad-Villaverde B, Afhami R, et al.
    Public Health, 2025 Mar 23;242:220-227.
    PMID: 40127606 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2025.02.030
    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.

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