Relationships can be divided into four categories
There are many ways to express love, such as through words, actions, or sex. Research has shown that relationships can be broadly divided into four types based on how love is expressed and felt.
Variation exists in the expression of romantic love: A cluster analytic study of young adults experiencing romantic love - ScienceDirect
Research suggests lovers fit into four categories
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-lovers-categories.html
Adam Board and his colleagues at the Australian National University surveyed 809 young people aged 18 to 25 who were in romantic relationships, asking them about their personality, smoking and drinking habits, how often they had sex with their partner, and the strength of their romantic feelings.
Based on the responses, romantic relationships can be roughly divided into the following four types.
Mild romantic lover
A moderate romantic lover
A libidinous romantic lover
- Intense romantic lovers
Mild romantic lover
This group was the second smallest in terms of numbers (20.02%), and its most notable feature was that they had the lowest scores in four key variables: intensity of romantic love, obsession, commitment, and frequency of sex.
In abstract terms, 'gentle' or 'mild' people have fallen in love the most of all groups, but tend to have the shortest duration of each relationship. They also have the lowest percentage of people who were already in love with their partner before they started a romantic relationship, and they have the longest time between starting a relationship and falling seriously in love. They also have the lowest percentage of people who think that 'my partner definitely loves me,' which shows that they have low confidence in their partner's love.
They also have the highest percentage of people who are in a relationship but not living together, and although satisfaction with romantic relationships is the lowest overall, on average it remains within the range of being 'satisfied.'
Individuals in this group had the lowest health and wellbeing scores of all groups, the highest rate of people diagnosed with ASD, the lowest scores in extraversion and agreeableness, the highest rate of people who reported drinking coffee, alcohol, and drugs, and the lowest rate of people who had sex.
A moderate romantic lover
This is the largest group (40.91%). They have relatively low intensity and obsession in romantic love, but relatively high commitment and moderate frequency of sex. They stand out for having average romantic tendencies, without any particularly extreme characteristics.
The proportion of people who described themselves as distractible, creative, impatient and argumentative was the lowest of all groups, while the proportion who described themselves as 'confident' was the highest.
A libidinous romantic lover
This group is characterized by extremely high frequency of sex, and has the lowest percentage (9.64%). They have sex an average of more than 10 times a week, far more than any other group.
Other notable features were the highest relationship-related quality of life and the highest rate of reporting not being anxious, worried, or depressed; however, they also had the highest rate of antidepressant (SSRI) use.
Other characteristics of these people include a preference for new experiences, highest scores on a scale related to bipolar disorder (HCL-32), ability to tolerate little sleep, a love of travel, high energy, a love of spending money, a strong interest in sex, and a strong tendency to smoke.
Intense romantic lovers
This is the second most common group (29.42%), and they have the highest intensity of romantic love, obsession, and commitment. They also have relatively high frequency of sex. They are considered to be 'intensely in love' by anyone.
They are the type who are obsessed with love, and the percentage of people who answered that they had feelings for their partner before they started dating was the highest, and their satisfaction after starting a relationship was also the highest. This is also the only group where the percentage of women exceeds that of men.
They also rate themselves and their partners highly, and tend to rate their partners more highly than themselves. They also score highly on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and are less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as drinking coffee, smoking, alcohol, and dangerous driving.
Their personality was generally positive, with characteristics such as enjoying their work, being sociable, not shy, talkative, telling jokes a lot, and willing to try new things.
'This research has implications for research into the evolution of romantic love. Humans may still be evolving in how they express romantic love,' Bode said.
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