“I love you forever (more or less)” – stability and change in adolescents’ romantic love status and associations with mood states

Abstract

Objective: Experiencing romantic love is an important part of individual development. Here, we investigated stability and change in romantic love and psychological correlates, including mood states, anxiety, and sleep, among Iranian adolescents over a period of 8 months. Method: Two hundred and one adolescents who had taken part in a previous study were contacted; 157 responded. Participants completed a questionnaire covering sociodemographic data, current state of love, and mood, including symptoms of depression, anxiety (state and trait), and hypomania. They also completed a sleep and activity log. Results: Of 64 participants formerly in love, 45 were still in love; of 86 participants not in love at baseline, 69 were still not in love (overall stability, 76%); 17 had fallen in love recently while 19 were no longer in love. Significant and important changes in mood and anxiety were observed in that experiencing romantic love was associated with higher anxiety scores. Hypomania scores increased in those newly in love, and decreased in those in a longer-lasting romantic relationship. Sleep and sleep-related variables were not associated with romantic love status. Conclusion: These findings suggest that, among Iranian adolescents, the state of love is fairly stable, and that love status seems to be associated with specific states of mood and anxiety.

Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives on Romantic Love

“…In romantic love, however, dopamine appears to be upregulated, especially in areas of the mesolimbic pathway (e.g., Marazziti et al, 2017;Bartels and Zeki, 2000;Acevedo et al, 2020). This could account for some findings that romantic love is associated with a reduction in depression symptoms (Bajoghli et al, 2013(Bajoghli et al, , 2017. However, these need to be reconciled with contrasting findings that romantic love is associated with increased depression symptoms (Bajoghli et al, 2014;Kuula et al, 2020) and evidence suggesting that a relationship breakup in people experiencing romantic love is associated with depression symptoms (Stoessel et al, 2011;Price et al, 2016;Verhallen et al, 2019).…”

“…There is evidence that romantic love is associated with increased hypomanic symptoms (elevated mood, Brand et al, 2007;Bajoghli et al, 2011Bajoghli et al, , 2013Bajoghli et al, , 2014Bajoghli et al, , 2017Brand et al, 2015), a change (increase or decrease) in depression symptoms (Stoessel et al, 2011;Bajoghli et al, 2013Bajoghli et al, , 2014Bajoghli et al, , 2017Price et al, 2016;Verhallen et al, 2019;Kuula et al, 2020), and increased state anxiety (Hatfield et al, 1989;Wang and Nguyen, 1995;Bajoghli et al, 2013Bajoghli et al, , 2014Bajoghli et al, , 2017Brand et al, 2015;Kuula et al, 2020). See Supplementary Table 1 for information about studies investigating hypomania, depression, and anxiety symptoms in people experiencing romantic love.…”

“…Despite their association with hypomania, the favorable nature of these symptoms in romantic love may be a sign of good physical and mental health because higher hypomanic scores have been associated with higher "mental toughness, " increased physical activity, lower symptoms of depression, and lower sleep complaints (Jahangard et al, 2017). Additionally, falling in love with a partner is sometimes associated with a reduction in depressive symptoms (Bajoghli et al, 2013(Bajoghli et al, , 2017. A reduction in the number of sexual partners could result in a decreased risk of sexually transmitted infections.…”

“…Infertility from sexually transmitted infections is possible among women (Koehn and Jonason, 2018). Disinhibited/stimulation-seeking and irritable/erratic, depressed, and anxious mood are sometimes features of romantic love (Wang and Nguyen, 1995;Bajoghli et al, 2013Bajoghli et al, , 2014Bajoghli et al, , 2017Brand et al, 2015;Kuula et al, 2020). In the face of repeated unrewarding efforts or adverse events in the courtship process, depressed or anxious mood could result (Nettle and Bateson, 2012).…”

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index for Adolescents

“…Further, to assess subjective sleep among Iranian adolescents, often either the Insomnia Severity Index [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ], the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale [ 5 , 31 , 32 ], or the Pittsburgh Sleep Hygiene Index for adults [ 5 , 32 , 33 ] are employed.…”