Values and love styles in Turkey and Great Britain: An intercultural and intracultural comparison

Little previous research has examined the relationship between values and love styles, and none has done so across cultures or intracultural regions. This research was the first attempt to explore the correlation between individual‐level values and love styles, and examined both within‐ and between‐cultural variations in love styles. In this study 224 participants from Turkey and Britain, from urban or rural locations, completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire and the Love Attitudes Scale measure of love styles. Pancultural analyses demonstrated significant correlations between certain value dimensions and love styles. In particular, agape (selfless love) was positively correlated with self‐transcendence, ludus (game‐playing love) was positively correlated with self‐enhancement, and pragma (realistic love) was positively correlated with conservation. The inclusion of location and nationality and their interactions with values in the multiple regression analyses significantly increased the variance explained by values for five of the six love styles. Multivariate analyses indicated that ludus, storge, mania, and pragma were all significantly higher among Turkish respondents; pragma, mania, and agape all higher amongst rural respondents. Eros was highest among rural British respondents; storge, pragma, and agape highest among rural Turks. When these culture effects were explored, conservation significantly mediated the relationship between the groups of more conservative rural Turks (versus other participants) and both pragmatic and storgic love styles. Findings are discussed in the light of disparities in values and relationship styles within cultures, and the need to include both intracultural and intercultural variations in cross cultural research. Peu d’études antérieures ont examiné la relation entre les valeurs et les styles d'amour, et aucune d'entre elles n'a effectué de comparaison entre les cultures ou entre les régions d'une culture. Cette étude était la première à explorer les corrélations entre les valeurs au niveau individuel et les styles d'amour, ainsi qu’à examiner à la fois les variations dans la culture et entre les cultures. Dans cette étude, 224 participants de la Turquie et de la Grande‐Bretagne, provenant de régions urbaines ou rurales, ont complété le Portrait Values Questionnaire et le Love Attitudes Scale qui mesure les styles d'amour. Des analyses pan‐culturelles ont montré des corrélations significatives entre certaines dimensio