The scale of myths of romantic love: Psychometric properties and gender differences in Spanish adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is characterized by the emergence of romantic interactions. This study aims to explore the psychometric properties of the Scale of Myths of Romantic Love (SMRL) and the gender differences in Spanish adolescents. The sample was representative and consisted of 1,840 third (52.8%) and fourth (47.2%) year students in compulsory secondary education in Castilla-La Mancha. In line with the original validation, the results of the factor analyses show that the SMRL is a mainly uni-dimensional measure when applied to adolescents. The bi-factor analysis yields satisfactory fit indices (in terms of GFI, AGFI, CFI, RMSEA, SRMR; Medrano & Muñoz-Navarro, 2017) and indicates that the general factor is more solid than the specific factors (in terms of ECV, ω_h and H_h). Correlations with the Myths Scale toward Love and the Gender Equality Attitudes Scale provide evidence in favor of convergent and discriminant validity. Boys scored significantly higher than girls on the SMRL. In conclusion, this is a suitable instrument to scientifically address romantic myths at the adolescent stage, but also to complement and guide educational interventions.

Keywords

Adolescence gender differences reliability romantic myths validity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aragonés-González

Rosser-Limiñana

Gil-González

(2020). Coeducation and gender equality in education systems: A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 111, 104837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104837

Ariza

Viejo

Ortega

(2022). El amor romántico y sus mitos en Colombia: Una revisión sistemática [The romantic love and related myths in Colombia: A systematic review]. Suma Psicológica, 29(1), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.14349/sumapsi.2022.v29.n1.8

Bisquert-Bover

Giménez-García

Gil-Juliá

Martínez-Gómez

Gil-Llario

M. D.

(2019). Mitos del amor romántico y autoestima en adolescents [Romantic love myths and self-esteem in adolescents]. International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology, 5(1), 507–518. https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2019.n1.v5.1633

Boateng

G. O.

Neilands

T. B.

Frongillo

E. A.

Melgar-Quiñonez

H. R.

Young

S. L.

(2018). Best practices for developing and validating scales for health, social, and behavioral research: A primer. Frontiers in Public Health, 6, 149. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00149.

Boisvert

Poulin

(2016). Romantic relationship patterns from adolescence to emerging adulthood: Associations with family and peer experiences in early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45(5), 945–958. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0435-0

Bonilla-Algovia

Rivas

(2018). Propiedades psicométricas de la versión reducida de la Escala de Mitos sobre el Amor en una muestra de estudiantes colombianos [Psychometric properties of the reduced version of the Love Myths Scale in a sample of Colombian students]. Suma Psicológica, 25(2), 162–170. https://doi.org/10.14349/sumapsi.2018.v25.n2.8

Bonilla-Algovia

Rivas-Rivero

(2020). Diseño y validación de la Escala de Mitos del Amor Romántico [Design and validation of the Scale of Myths of Romantic Love]. Revista Iberoamericana de Diagnóstico y Evaluación - e Avaliaçao Psicológica, 4(57), 119–136. https://doi.org/10.21865/RIDEP57.4.09

Bonilla-Algovia

Rivas-Rivero

(2021a). Mitos románticos en docentes en formación de España y Latinoamérica [Romantic myths in teacher trainees in Spain and Latin America]. América Latina Hoy, 89, 61–80. https://doi.org/10.14201/alh.26281.

Bonilla-Algovia

Rivas-Rivero

(2021b). Propiedades psicométricas de la versión reducida de la Escala de Mitos hacia el Amor en estudiantes de El Salvador [Psychometric properties of the reduced version of the Myths Toward Love Scale in students from El Salvador]. Psykhe, 30(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.7764/psykhe.2019.21737

10.

Bosch

Ferrer

V. A.

Ferreiro

Navarro

(2013). La violencia contra las mujeres: El amor como coartada [Violence against women: Love as an alibi]. Anthropos Editorial.

11.

Bosch

Ferrer

V. A.

García

M. E.

Ramis

M. C.

Mas

M. C.

Navarro

Torrens

(2007). Del mito del amor romántico a la violencia contra las mujeres en la pareja [From the myth of romantic love to violence against women in couples]. Instituto de la Mujer.

12.

Carbonell

Á.

Mestre

M. V.

(2018). Sexismo y mitos del amor romántico en estudiantes prosociales y antisociales [Sexism and romantic love myths in prosocial and antisocial students]. Revista Prisma Social, 23, 1–17. https://revistaprismasocial.es/article/view/2722

13.

Carlson

Rose

A. J.

(2007). The role of reciprocity in romantic relationships in middle childhood and early adolescence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 53(2), 262–290. https://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.2007.0008

14.

Carretero-Dios

Pérez

(2005). Normas para el desarrollo y revisión de estudios instrumentales [Standards for the development and review of instrumental studies]. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 5(3), 521–551. http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=33705307

15.

Collins

W. A.

Welsh

D. P.

Furman

(2009). Adolescent romantic relationships. Annual Review of Psychology, 60(1), 631–652. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163459

16.

Connolly

McIsaac

Shulman

Wincentak

Joly

Heifetz

Bravo

(2014). Development of romantic relationships in adolescence and emerging adulthood: Implications for community mental health. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 33(1), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2014-002

17.

Connolly

J. A.

McIsaac

(2009). Romantic relationships in adolescence. In Lerner

R. M.

Steinberg

(Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology: Contextual influences on adolescent development (pp. 104–151). John Wiley and Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479193.adlpsy002005

18.

De la Peña

E. M.

Ramos

Luzón

J. M.

Recio

(2011). Andalucía detecta: Sexismo y violencia de género en la juventud [Andalusia detects: Sexism and gender violence among young people. Instituto Andaluz de la Mujer.

19.

Domínguez-Lara

Rodríguez

(2017). Índices estadísticos de modelos bifactor [Statistical indices of bifactor models]. Interacciones, 3(2), 59–65. https://doi.org/10.24016/2017.v3n2.51

20.

Domínguez-Lara

S. A.

Merino-Soto

(2015). Por qué es importante reportar los intervalos de confianza del coeficiente alfa de Cronbach? [Why is it important to report cronbach’s alpha coefficient confidence intervals?]. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud, 13(2), 1326–1328. http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=77340728053

21.

Escobedo

M. T.

Hernández

J. A.

Estebané

Martínez

(2016). Modelos de ecuaciones estructurales: Características, fases, construcción, aplicación y resultados [Structural equation models: Characteristics, phases, construction, application and results]. Ciencia and Trabajo, 18(55), 16–22. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-24492016000100004

22.

Feiring

(1996). Concepts of romance in fifteen year old adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6(2), 181–200. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-03765-003

23.

Fernández

Navarro-Pérez

J. J.

Carbonell

Á.

Oliver

(2021). Psychometric properties on a romantic love myths scale: The case of the myths, fallacies and erroneous beliefs about the ideal of romantic love scale. Current Psychology, 42(3), 1665–1675. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01331-w

24.

Ferrando

P. J.

Lorenzo-Seva

(2007). Program factor at 10: Origins, development and future directions. Psicothema, 29(2), 236–240. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2016.304

25.

Gallardo

J. A.

Gallardo

(2019). Educar en igualdad: Prevención de la violencia de género en la adolescencia [Educating in equality: Prevention of gender violence in adolescence]. Revista Educativa Hekademos, 26, 31–39. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6985275

26.

Gallego-Granero

Fernández-Piedra

(2023). Percepciones del amor en población adulta-joven madrileña [Perceptions about love in young-adult people from Madrid]. OBETS - Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 18(2), 305–322. https://doi.org/10.14198/obets.24207

27.

García

Rebollo

M. A.

Buzón

González-Piñal

Barragán

Ruiz

(2010). Actitudes del alumnado hacia la igualdad de género [Student attitudes towards gender equality]. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 28(1), 217–232. https://revistas.um.es/rie/article/view/98951

28.

García

Olvera

(2020). El amor romántico, su socialización en familias con adolescentes de Querétaro [Romantic love, its socialization in families with adolescents in Querétaro]. Emerging Trends in Education, 2(4), 66–89. https://doi.org/10.19136/etie.a2n4.3753

29.

Goldfarb

E. S.

Lieberman

L. D.

(2021). Three decades of research: The case for comprehensive sex education. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(1), 13–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.036

30.

Gómez

Viejo

(2020). Mitos del amor romántico y calidad de las relaciones sentimentales adolescentes [Myths of romantic love and quality of adolescent romantic relationships]. Revista Iberoamericana de Psicología, 13(1), 151–161. https://doi.org/10.33881/2027-1786.rip.13114

31.

Hatfield

Bensman

Rapson

R. L.

(2012). A brief history of social scientists' attempts to measure passionate love. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 29(2), 143–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407511431055

32.

Hernández

Y. A.

Castro

A. L.

Barrios

E. E.

(2020). Creencias del amor romántico en adolescentes: Una intervención desde la investigación-acción [Romantic love beliefs in adolescents: An action research intervention]. Sinéctica, 1(55), e1095. https://doi.org/10.31391/S2007-7033(2020)0055-007

33.

Jiménez

Alonso-Ruíz

Romero

de los Reyes

Martínez-Montilla

J. M.

Pabón-Carrasco

(2023). Psychometric properties and confirmatory factor analysis of the love myths scale in a comparative sample by gender and across generational groups. In Sexuality Research and Social Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-023-00863-7

34.

Jiménez-Picón

Romero-Martín

Romero-Castillo

Palomo-Lara

J. C.

Alonso-Ruiz

(2023). Internalization of the romantic love myths as a risk factor for gender violence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 20(3), 837–854. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-022-00747-2

35.

Jorgensen-Wells

M. A.

James

S. L.

Holmes

E. K.

(2021). Attachment development in adolescent romantic relationships: A conceptual model. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 13(1), 128–142. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12409

36.

Keogh

S. C.

Stillman

Awusabo-Asare

Sidze

Monzon

A. S.

Motta

Leong

(2018). Challenges to implementing national comprehensive sexuality education curricula in low- and middle-income countries: Case studies of Ghana, Kenya, Peru and Guatemala. PLoS One, 13(7), Article e0200513. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200513

37.

Lantagne

Furman

(2017). Romantic relationship development: The interplay between age and relationship length. Developmental Psychology, 53(9), 1738–1749. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000363

38.

Lelaurain

Fonte

Giger

J. C.

Guignard

Lo Monaco

(2021). Legitimizing intimate partner violence: The role of romantic love and the mediating effect of patriarchal ideologies. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(13–14), 6351–6368. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518818427

39.

León

O. G.

Montero

(2020). Research methods in Psychology and Education. Quantitative and qualitative traditions [Métodos de investigación en Psicología y Educación. Las tradiciones cuantitativas y cualitativas (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

40.

Leung

Shek

D. T. L.

Leung

Shek

E. Y. W.

(2019). Development of contextually-relevant sexuality education: Lessons from a comprehensive review of adolescent sexuality education across cultures. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(4), 621. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040621

41.

Lloret-Segura

Ferreres-Traver

Hernández-Baeza

Tomás-Marco

(2014). Exploratory item factor analysis: A practical guide revised and updated. Anales de Psicología, 30(3), 1151–1169. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.30.3.199361

42.

Marcos

Gancedo

Castro

Selaya

(2020). Dating violence victimization, perceived gravity in dating violence behaviors, sexism, romantic love myths and emotional dependence between female and male adolescents. Revista Iberoamericana de Psicología y Salud, 11(2), 132–145. https://doi.org/10.23923/j.rips.2020.02.040

43.

Martín-Salvador

Saddiki-Mimoun

Pérez-Morente

M. Á.

Álvarez-Serrano

M. A.

Gázquez-López

Martínez-García

Fernández-Gómez

(2021). Dating violence: Idealization of love and romantic myths in Spanish adolescents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10), 5296. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105296

44.

Matsunaga

(2010). How to factor-analyze your data right: Do's, don'ts, and how-to's. International Journal of Psychological Research, 3(1), 97–110. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.854

45.

Medrano

L. A.

Muñoz-Navarro

(2017). Conceptual and practical approach to structural equations modeling. Revista Digital de Investigación en Docencia Universitaria, 11(1), 211–233. https://doi.org/10.19083/ridu.11.486

46.

Menendez

(2023). The moderating effect of sexual orientation on gender and romantic love myths. MLS Psychology Research, 6(1), 117–137. https://doi.org/10.33000/mlspr.v6i1.1311

47.

Mirsu-Paun

Oliver

J. A.

(2017). How much does love really hurt? A meta-analysis of the association between romantic relationship quality, breakups and mental health outcomes in adolescents and young adults. Journal of Relationships Research, 8, e5. https://doi.org/10.1017/jrr.2017.6

48.

Montero

(2013). Referentes conceptuales y metodológicos sobre la noción moderna de validez de instrumentos de medición: Implicaciones para el caso de personas con necesidades educativas especiales [Conceptual and methodological referents regarding the modern notion of validity in measurement instruments: Implications for the evaluation of people with special educational needs]. Actualidades en Psicología, 27(114), 113–128. https://doi.org/10.15517/ap.v27i114.7900

49.

Muñiz

Fonseca-Pedrero

(2019). Diez pasos para la construcción de un test [Ten steps for test development]. Psicothema, 31(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.291

50.

Nava-Reyes

M. A.

Rojas-Solís

J. L.

Greathouse

L. M.

Morales

L. A.

(2018). Gender roles, sexism, and myths of romantic love in Mexican adolescents. Revista Interamericana de Psicología, 52(1), 102–111. https://doi.org/10.30849/rip/ijp.v52i1.341

51.

Putnick

D. L.

Bornstein

M. H.

(2016). Measurement invariance conventions and reporting: The state of the art and future directions for psychological research. Developmental Review, 41, 71–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2016.06.004

52.

Rivas-Rivero

Bonilla-Algovia

(2021). Relación entre los mitos románticos y las actitudes hacia la igualdad de género en la adolescencia [Relationship between romantic myths and attitudes toward gender equality in adolescence]. Psychology, Society and Education, 13(3), 67–80. https://doi.org/10.25115/psye.v13i3.5254

53.

Rodríguez-Castro

Lameiras-Fernández

Carrera-Fernández

M. V.

Vallejo-Medina

(2013). La fiabilidad y validez de la escala de mitos hacia el amor: Las creencias de los y las adolescentes [The reliability and validity of the myths scale toward love: Adolescents' beliefs]. Revista de Psicología Social, 28(2), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1174/021347413806196708

54.

Ruiz-Palomino

Ballester-Arnal

Giménez-García

Gil-Llario

M. D.

(2021a). Influence of beliefs about romantic love on the justification of abusive behaviors among early adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 92(1), 126–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.09.001

55.

Ruiz-Palomino

Ballester-Arnal

Giménez-García

Gil-Llario

M. D.

(2021b). The teenage love: Do Spanish early-middle adolescents believe in the romantic love? Journal of Clinical Psychology with Children and Adolescents, 8(2), 51–55. https://doi.org/10.21134/rpcna.2021.08.2.7

56.

Yela

(2003). La otra cara del amor: Mitos, paradojas y problemas [The other face of love: Myths, paradoxes, and problems]. Encuentros en Psicología Social, 1(2), 263–267.