Abstract

CASSEPP-BORGES, Vicente  and  PASQUALI, Luiz. Sternberg’s Triangular Love Scale national study of psychometric attributes. Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto) [online]. 2012, vol.22, n.51, pp. 21-31. ISSN 0103-863X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0103-863X2012000100004.

Even though Sternberg's Triangular Love Scale (STLS) has been increasingly used in Brazilian research, all the relevant studies have been conducted at a state level. The objective of this study was to investigate the psychometric attributes of the scale at a national level. The STLS was applied to a sample of 1,549 participants from 13 Brazilian states. The results suggest that STLS is an excellent test, with the three-factor structure predicted by the theory and a high level of reliability (α = 0.98). The Item Response Theory showed that STLS has highly discriminative items, assessing a large share of the population, although low difficulty was applied. We suggest keeping complex items in the scale in order to maintain a reliable and valid measure of love.

Keywords : Love; Intimacy; Passion; Factor Analysis; Item Response Theory.