1. + Culture and Love

2. + Buss (1994) A cross-cultural look at Relationships Sample consisted of over 10,000 participants from 37 cultures. 2 questionnaires were given regarding mate selection/preference. In all cultures, men preferred younger mates while women preferred older mates. In 36/37 cultures, women ranked financial prospects as more important than males.

3. + Cross-cultural findings USA: Love ranked 1st. Iran: Love ranked 3rd. Nigeria: Love ranked 4 th. China: Love ranked 6 th. South Africa (Zulu): Love ranked 7 th.

4. + Simmons et al. (1986) US & Germany v. Japan in view of love Found romantic love was valued more in the US and in Germany than in Japan. They argue that love is less valued in more traditional cultures with strong, extended family ties.

5. + Levine et al. (1995) Individualist v. Collectivist cultures and love Found that individualistic countries were more likely to rate love as essential to the establishment of a marriage, and to agree that the loss of love is a sufficient reason for divorce. Divorce rates are highly correlated with the belief that the disappearance of love warranted the dissolution of marriage.

6. + An excerpt of Hmongs woman view of marriage

7. + Gupta & Singh (1992) Arranged marriages v. Love marriages Couples in India who had married for love reported diminished feelings of love if they had been married for more than 5 years. Arranged marriage couples reported higher levels of love.

8. + Yelsma & Athappilly (1990) Compared people from Indian arranged marriages with people from Indian and American love marriages and found the former to be more satisfied.