Revisiting the Languages of Love: An Empirical Test of the Validity Assumptions Underlying Chapman’s (2015) Five Love Languages Typology

Abstract

Chapman’s (2015) Five Love Languages remain prevalent within popular press publications coaching individuals toward more satisfying relationships. However, the absence of empirical evidence validating the love language concept remains concerning. Using a qualitative analysis of 648 open-ended responses from 324 college-aged participants, the following study investigates the current assumptions regarding the love language concept by inductively testing the accuracy of the existing love languages typology. The results demonstrate substantial support for Chapman’s (2015) Five Love Languages, as well as evidence for a novel, sixth love language.

Keywords:

• Gary Chapman
• love languages
• relational maintenance
• romantic communication

Acknowledgments

We wish to extend our sincere thanks to the Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) Program at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as Dr. René Dailey and IE Program founder Dr. Richard Cherwitz, for their roles in making this research collaboration possible.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).