The purpose of this research was to identify age and sex differences in the major characteristics of satisfying heterosexual love relationships. 102 happily married young, middle-aged, and older couples completed a 108-statement Q-sort of love experiences. Scores were determined for six components of love: Emotional security, Respect, Help and play behaviors, Communication, Sexual intimacy and Loyalty. Statistical analyses showed that older lovers had higher ratings for emotional security and loyalty and lower ratings for sexual intimacy, while young adult lovers had higher ratings for communication. Men were found to have higher ratings for loyalty, while women had higher ratings for emotional security.