Love Relationships

Abstract

Love is for people one of the most complex and important emotions. Its analysis regarding the relationships in youngsters and middle-aged adults has been widely discussed, but with little exploration in the elderly. Among the theories that have addressed the love relationship, one of the most important is the triangular theory of love, which will be the focus of this article. This theory considers that the course of the relationship depends on the fluctuation of the three components that make up love: intimacy, passion and commitment. These components can together be plotted out as points of a triangle. On each of them, a different aspect of love is presented. Considering the importance of the love experience on old people's well-being and based on the study of the components of the relationship, this article contributes to the knowledge about intimacy, passion and decision/commitment in this stage of life. This research is performed from their analytical study, comparing other age groups, differentiating long term and short term couples and the satisfaction such relationships provide.