Psychometric Exploration of the Five Love Languages

Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages (2024) is an internationally recognized popular psychology theory. In the present study (n = 740) a series of factor analyses were conducted to explore the structure of the five love languages. Both the structure of what behaviors people perceive as an expression of their partner’s love (reception), and the structure of what behaviors people perceive as an expression of their love for their partner (expression) were examined. Although exploratory factor analyses suggested that a two-factor and five-factor solution were reasonable across both reception and expression formats, confirmatory factor analyses resulted in no model being retained. A detailed overview of the analyses in relation to construct validity provides a clear path for future research to clarify the structure of the love languages. In addition, I discuss what researchers studying the love languages should aim to do and how they might best achieve those aims.