A Measure of Romantic Love: The Psychometric Properties of the Love Bank Inventory

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to thoroughly study the psychometric properties of the Love Bank Inventory (LBI) with married participants. The LBI is a 21-item Likert-type English survey developed to measure romantic love for a partner. Two studies were conducted with independent data sets (Study 1: n = 143; Study 2: n = 142) that represented 22- to 62-year-old heterosexual, nondyadic married respondents with multicultural citizenship. The results of the two studies provide support for (a) a single-factor model, (b) convergent validity with a positive correlation with the statement about romantic love (rs = .67 - .68) and construct criterion validity with a positive correlation with the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (r = .76 - .80), (c) internal consistency of LBI statements (? = .95 - .96,), and (d) test-retest reliability (r = .88). These two studies provide support for the use of the LBI as a free tool to assess romantic love in marriage education development and applied settings.