Based on similarities between the concepts of place attachment and interpersonal relationships, these studies take as their starting points Sternberg’s (1988a) triangular theory of love and Walster and Walster’s (1978) passionate-to-companionate model of love’s stages. In Study 1, interviews were collected from sojourners to the Arctic and Antarctic. These interviews were assessed by judges for the amount of passion for, intimacy with, and commitment to the polar region. In Study 2, a self-report form was used to collect data from 30 Arctic sojourners regarding their feelings toward their polar work site. Results from Study 1 indicated that the passionate-to-companionate progression occurred in environmental relationships; Study 2 failed to confirm this finding. In Study 2, analysis of work site type indicated that field workers had the greatest degree of love for the Arctic. In both studies, analysis of the 3 dimensions indicated that environmental love is best viewed as a monolithic construct.
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