“Fort Aux Fesses”, “Fort Aux Poches”, “Fort Au Cœur”: Buzz or Reality? Initial Validation of Love Scale French Version and Effect of Women’s Mate Profile on Their Love and Happiness ()
1. Introduction
In July 2019, a comedy video in which the now famous Cameroonian comedian “Haricot Beans” parodied on the fact his girlfriend left him for a “fort aux fesses” boyfriend takes over the web. The “fort aux fesses” concept will become popular on social networks in Cameroon. Several personal and groups pages will be created on Facebook, musical artists will produce titles around this concept (Dady Channel in “Fort aux fesses”, Tchakala VIP in “For o Fess”), videos related to will circulate on Tik Tok, Youtube, etc. In that climate, women will have particularly contrasting views. Some will agree that woman should leave a mate if he is not “fort aux fesses”; others will argue it should be done if the mate does not guarantee financial security (we labeled it “fort aux poches”); still others argued what matters to the mate is his caring side (we labeled it “fort au cœur”). Start-Up Académie (2021) published a stand in which it argues being “fort aux fesses” is not enough to retain a woman. It put forward that the main factor which gives a man the assurance of retaining a woman is money. Analysis of the debate between those three categories of women gives the impression that only one of those three women’ mate profiles would make women more in love or happier, to the point where her absence would justify the breakdown of a romantic relationship.
From that empirical debate on social networks in Cameroon, three main male romantic partner profiles emerge: “fort aux fesses”, “fort aux poches”and“fort au cœur”. Those different profiles have already been mentioned in the literature on romantic relationships. “Fort aux fesses” refers to sex or sexual competence related to pleasure and not to procreation. It is the fact of being able to provide his/ her partner with sexual pleasure or gratification. Romantic love incorporates sexual pleasure which is embellished by cultural rites (Karandashev, 2019). Pleasurable sexual experiences and romantic love have a close relationship (Karandashev, 2017). “Fort aux poches” refers to money or earning capacity. It is the fact of being able to mobilize the appropriate financial resources to allow the couple to satisfy needs stimulated by environment in which romantic relationship is lived. Money is important in the development of the romantic relationship (Li et al., 2016; Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2012). Finally, “Fort au cœur” refers to kindness, attention. It corresponds to the “good father,” which consists of a set of male attributes closely related to direct paternal care such as affection, having heart on the hand (Lu et al., 2015).
Research on romantic relationships helps to explain what makes a relationship satisfying and/or stable by highlighting the psychological processes involved in forming and/or maintaining the relationship. Indeed, literature on intimate relationships highlights factors of establishing and preserving a romantic relationship (Karandashev, 2017, 2019; Li et al., 2016; Lu et al., 2015; Pereira et al., 2022). Those factors are also associated with satisfaction vis-à-vis romantic relationship (Dailey & Powell, 2017; Demir, 2008; Kowal et al., 2021; Yela, 2012). This research is part of the evolutionary psychology perspective, which is interested in psychological adaptations—related to the attraction, selection and retention of a mate—generated by the environmental constraints that furnish the evolutionary history of humans (Eastwick, 2016). This study is part of this perspective insofar as it focuses on the retention characteristics of a mate by women. She seeks to understand whether one of three profiles mentioned above makes women happier and/or more in love. Love is certainly a universal experience (Karandashev, 2019), but the psychological design of adaptation related to love are not the same for men and women. Women are more demanding in choosing their mate and their psychological design of coping in a romantic relationship seem more complex (Buss, 2016; Pereira et al., 2022; Pinto & Arantes, 2017; Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2012). The evolutionary perspective holds that love has adaptive functions and individuals adopt mating strategies based on environmental conditions (Buss, 2008). In accordance with that hypothesis, the romantic universe of men is distinct from women. Thus, there is relevance for being interested by the latter category.
Classically, qualities sought by women (whether committed in romantic relationship or not) are: ambition, good educational level, good financial perspective, intelligence, emotional stability, kindness, humor, etc. (Amador et al., 2005; Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2012). The work of Buss et al. (1990) in 37 cultures yielded similar results. When in a favourable economic situation, those criteria change and there is a preference for the physical appearance of their mate, that is, men with “good genes” (Gangestad & Simpson, 2000; Pillsworth & Haselton, 2006). Recently, Li et al. (2016) have shown in a modernized context they prefer the “good father” over “good gene” and “good provision”. They explain those results by evolution of modernization such as medically assisted procreation techniques. Those changes in women’s mate value preferences have adaptive functions. Indeed, when women are in an ordinary or weak economic situation, they accentuate criteria which provide information on the potential social success of the man. She makes sure to cut herself with a man who can give her the resources to take care of their offspring. When they themselves have those resources, they accentuate physical appearance because it informs about the health of the man and his ability to make children in good physical condition. The complexity of adaptation psychological design of women in a romantic relationship therefore responds to an evolutionary logic.
Several studies highlight the mental adaptations women make in the context of romantic relationships. Demir (2008) showed women experience more happiness than men in romantic relationships. That may be due to the fact that they forgive more, are more demanding in choosing their mate, and are less involved in emotional and sexual infidelity and promiscuity (Pereira et al., 2022; Pinto & Arantes, 2017; Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2012). They are more affected by destructive communication and suffer more from depression (Pereira et al., 2022). The factors that contribute to their love satisfaction are: commitment, intimacy, romantic passion, general satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction (Yela, 2012). Nelson and Morrison (2005) found they prefer mate who are weighty over those who are thin. Very few of them imagine marrying a man who earns less than them, has a lower level of education or who does not have a regular job; the older they get, the lower are the age of mate they accept (Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2012). During the first year of the romantic relationship, thoughtfulness, flirtatiousness, intensity and quality of communication, frequency of kisses, sexual experience and the presence of date night are the factors that increase physical attraction in women (Karandashev & Fata, 2014). The evolutionary psychological perspective provides a theoretical framework that helps to better understand the variation of those factors of establishment and maintenance of romantic relationship. It is therefore complementary to the love theories (Buss, 2018).
There are several theories of love, but only four propose an operational model of love: the theory of love styles (Lee, 1976), the passionate and companionate love theory (Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986), the triangular love theory (Sternberg, 1987, 1997) and the theory of love as an attachment (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). Lee (1976) proposed six styles of love with three styles of primary love (Eros, Storge, Ludus) whose combination gave the three secondary styles (Agape, Pragma, Mania). Eros is an erotic love style; Storge represents a style of love that develops as a result of friendship and Ludus is a love-game centered on pleasure where several partners intervene. Agape is the combination of Eros and Storge; Pragma combines Ludus and Storge, and Mania combines Eros and Ludus. Hatfield and Sprecher (1986) distinguish two main categories of love: passionate love (characterized by a burning desire to be with the partner. This desire varies according to the reciprocity of love) and companionate love (characterized by feelings of intimacy, closeness, commitment and equality with the partner). Sternberg (1987, 1997) highlighted three dimensions of love: intimacy (proximity, connectedness), passion (strong feelings towards the partner very often fueled by psychophysiological stimuli such as sexual arousal) and commitment (the decision to maintain the relationship). Finally, Hazan and Shaver (1987) in their model, conceive of romantic love as an attachment process similar to mother-child attachment. Those different theories have been extended by other works. In this case, Yela (2006) extended the model of Sternberg (1987, 1997) by proposing a new operationalization of love in four dimensions: intimacy, erotic passion, romantic passion and commitment. This study is part of this model, because it is the only one that has been designed with a collectivist culture (Spain) as is Cameroon.
From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, this study investigates factors of maintaining an intimate relationship. It aims to study the effect of women’s mate profile on their love and happiness. Three women’s mate profiles were selected: “fort aux fesses”, “fort aux poches”, “fort au cœur”. Although each of those profiles has already been addressed in the romantic relationship literature, no study has yet compared the contribution of those three women’ mate profiles in maintaining a romantic relationship and specifically on their level of love and/or happiness. It should be noted that love and happiness in a romantic relationship are linked to the overall well-being of the individual (Yela, 2012). Moreover, very few studies in women focus on the comparison of their mate profiles. In this case, physically attractive women do not prefer one profile to the detriment of another, they want a man who has, at the same time of good genes, good investment abilities, good parenting abilities, and good partner traits (Buss, 2008). Lu et al. (2015) showed that when women are already in a good financial situation, they choose the “good father” over “good gene” and “good provision”. Unlike those studies, the current research does not focus on mating factors, but on romantic relationship maintenance factors. Moreover, researches on romantic relationships in Cameroon are very scarce. Comparing those three women’s mate profile contribute to fill a theoretical gap and in the same time try scientifically shed light on a fertile empirical debate. So it was the first investigation of this kind in the Cameroonian context. As a result, there is no tool on love adjusted for that population. This research had two studies. The first aimed to validate a love scale in Cameroonian context. The second used that tool to measure the effects of women’ mate profile.
2. Study 1: Initial Validation of the French Version of Yela’s Love Scale
Love is a construct whose idea of a complete definition or which would tend towards unanimity seems utopian. Conceptions of love are uncountable and this is particularly shaped by culture (Karandashev, 2015). In the context of romantic relationship, scholars try instead to bring out a few characteristics. Love is a universal emotion, experienced in an erotic context, combining thoughts, feelings, psychophysiological reactions and behaviors that involve an intimate and sexual relationship between two people (Jankowiak & Fischer, 1992; Yela, 2012). It is also a process which begins with a state of intense attraction—we talk about falling in love (tomber amoureuse in French)—to become romantic love if it is reciprocal, leading to a redefinition of its priorities, the expectation of living it for a long time in the future, the idealization of the loved one (thinking he is unique, seeing only his qualities and ignoring his weakness) (de Munck et al., 2011; Jankowiak & Fischer, 1992; Karandashev, 2019). The theoretical models which have led to operational models highlight six main characteristics of love: intimacy, passion, commitment, compassion, affection, closeness (Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986; Karandashev & Evans, 2019; Yela, 2006).
The literature offers several tools to measure love: Love Attitude Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1986), Romantic Beliefs Scale (Hazan & Shaver, 1987), Passionate Love Scale (Sprecher & Fehr, 2005), Sternberg’s Triangular Love Scale (Sternberg, 1997), Yela’s Love Scale (Yela, 2006), and Quadrangular Love Scale (Karandashev & Evans, 2019). With the exception of the last two scales cited, the other scales are based on theoretical models which are not exhaustive and have several limitations (Karandashev & Evans, 2019; Yela, 2006). The models of Yela (2006) and Karandashev and Evans (2019) overcome those limitations. However, there is no French version of either of those two scales in the literature. Yet, the most spoken language in Cameroon is French. Moreover, French language is a vector of communication on 5 continents, 114 countries and 300 million people (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, 2019). Yela’s love scale (Yela, 2006) was chosen in this study because it is an extension of Sternberg’s model (Sternberg, 1987) and it has been validated in Spain which has a cultural proximity to Cameroon, giving the fact they are both collectivist cultures. Karandashev (2015) points out that collectivist and individualistic cultures influence love in different ways.
Yela’s love scale (Yela, 2006) has 20 items structured equally in four dimensions: commitment, intimacy, erotic passion and romantic passion. Commitment is the relationship planning over the long term, the perception of the romantic relationship as stable and mainly the decision to maintain it over difficulties. Intimacy is a special emotional bond that emanates from communication, trust, support, and understanding between partners. Erotic passion, on the other hand, alludes to desires, needs, of a purely physiological nature and sexual arousal. Finally, romantic passion refers to the desire for love and purely psychological needs such as the idealization of the other and romantic thoughts. Love is a cultural emotion and language shapes the way a people thinks, feels and expresses it (Karandashev, 2019; Karandashev, 2017). It is therefore essential to develop tools in the language specific to a population if we effectively claim to capture love. The objective of this study 1 is to validate the French version of Yela’s love scale (Yela, 2006) with a Cameroonian sample. This involves translating the original version into French, testing the factor structure and internal consistency.
2.1. Method
2.1.1. Translation and Cultural Adaptation Process Method
The standard procedure for the translation and cultural adaptation of a tool was applied in several phases (Sousa & Rojjanasrirat, 2011; Swami & Barron, 2019). First, a preliminary French version was designed by two researchers in social psychology, all of whom are French mother tongues. They are all bilingual with French as their first language. Independently, each of them proposed a preliminary version of the items, the response system and the instructions. A definitive preliminary version was retained following a discussion between researchers. Another bilingual social psychologist compared that preliminary version to the initial English version to check for any ambiguity, both with regard to common concepts and technical concepts. At this point, no changes have been made. We then interviewed 28 participants of French mother tongue aged between 19 and 58, to assess the clarity of the items. This assessment was made on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very clear) to 7 (not at all clear). No item having obtained a score lower than 4, this version was translated back into English by a translator of English mother tongue, who is fluent in French. Finally, the researchers compared the preliminary version to the original version, and the final French version was retained.
2.1.2. Participants and Procedure
The sample of this study consisted of 422 heterosexual participants (300 women). They were recruited by the convenience sampling for due to the ease which researchers have to access participants within university campuses. They were between 18 and 66 years of age (M = 25.41; SD = 6.08), and were either committed in romantic relationship (n = 289) or single (n = 133). Indeed, a love scale can be administered to those two categories (Karandashev & Evans, 2019). Participants had an average of 0.55 children (SD = 1.24). For those in a relationship, the average length of their romantic relationship was 4.02 years (SD = 5.42). Potential participants were informed verbally about purpose of the study, the confidential and voluntary nature of their participation. For those who agreed to take part in the study, they were given a questionnaire which they had to complete and return to the interviewer. Participants rated their feelings toward their current, or possible prospective romantic partners (depending on a status of their relationship).
2.1.3. Measure: Love Scale (Yela, 2006)
Yela’s Love Scale (Yela, 2006) assesses the degree of love towards one’s romantic partner. The original version is composed of 20 items divided into four dimensions, each with five items: commitment, intimacy, erotic passion and romantic passion. For each item, participants were invited to position themselves on a seven-point Likert-type response system: Strongly disagree (1), Disagree (2), Slightly disagree (3), Neither disagree nor agree (4), Slightly agree (5), Agree (6), Strongly agree (7). The validation of that original version is the subject of the current study 1.
2.1.4. Data Analysis
A preliminary analysis was first undertaken to assess the fit of each item for the dimension to which it belongs. That preliminary analysis was based on a structural equation where the factor weight of the items of each dimension was calculated. It was supplemented by the calculation of the value of the internal consistency in case of deletion of the item. In addition to Cronbach’s alpha commonly used as an internal consistency index, this work also used Mcdonald’s Omega which tends to be considered more appropriate (Hayes & Coutts, 2020). The preliminary analysis was followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (AFC) to test the factor structure of the French version and see if it shares the same structure as the original version. The AFC highlighted the following indices: Chi-two freedom ratio (X2/ddl), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), Tucker Lewis index (TLI), comparative fit index (CFI), parsimony comparative fit indice (PCFI) and Akaike comparative index (AIC). Those indices indicate a good fit of the model from the following boundaries: X2/ddl < 5, RMSEA and SRMR ≤ .08, TLI/CFI .90, PCFI between .50 and .90 and AIC = as low as possible (Hooper et al., 2008; Nyock Ilouga & Moussa-Mouloungui, 2019; Swami & Barron, 2019). Correlation analyses between the dimensions of scale and between those dimensions and love as one-dimensional were undertaken to test the ability of each dimension to account for love while remaining distinct from other dimensions. Indeed, a correlation r ≥ .7 shows the constructs are interchangeable, while a score below this threshold shows that variables are related but distinct (Nyock Ilouga & Moussa-Mouloungui, 2019, Schober et al., 2018). Those statistical analyses were carried out on SPSS 23 and its AMOS 23 extension.
2.2. Results and Discussion
Analysis of the factor weight of each item for the dimension to which it belongs (Table 1) showed that overall, the contribution of each item is statistically
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Table 1. Factor weight of items as a function of the dimensions to which they belong.
significant. However, item C3 for the Commitment dimension has a non-significant factor weight β = 0.240, p = .868. That item tends to contribute to a bad fit of the model. An analysis of the internal consistency of each dimension in case of deletion of an item (Table 2) confirms item C3 reduces the fit quality of the model. Indeed, in the presence of that item, the Commitment dimension has an unacceptable internal consistancy (α = .026). Whereas when removed, this dimension has a good Cronbach Alpha score (α = .76). As a result, item C3 has been removed from the French version of the scale.
Analysis of Table 3 shows the factor structure of original version of the love scale shows satisfactory clues in the French version. The fundamental indices
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Table 2. Internal consistency coefficient in case of deletion of an item.
Note. α = Cronbach’s Alpha; ω = McDonald’s Omega; *** = item deleted in the final French version of scale.
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Table 3. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis of French version of the love scale.
Note. ***p < .001.
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Table 4. Internal consistency, descriptive statistics and correlations between scale constructs.
Note. **p < .001.
values (X2/ddl = 3.50; RMSEA = .07; RMS = .05) reveal a good fit of the four-dimensional factor structure in a French-speaking sample. Those indices are supplemented by the relative indices which oscillate between average and good adjustment: CFI = .90; PCFI = .69 and AIC = 637.27.
Table 4 shows the love scale French version has a good internal consistency whether at the one-dimensional or multidimensional level. It also shows the correlations between the score obtained on all 19 items and that obtained on each dimension is greater than .70. On the other hand, correlations between the four constructs of the scale do not reach .60. It shows there is redundancy between love and its constructs and a specificity between dimensions. Because of the difference in the love psychological design between men and women, results were compared between those two categories. It shows there is no difference on the overall love score t (420) = 1.61, p = .11 (Mwoman = 5.29; Mmale = 5.11); and on three dimensions: Commitment t (420) = 1.91, p = .06 (Mwoman = 5.42; Mmale = 5.16), Intimacy t (420) = 1.80, p = .07 (Mfemale = 5.27; Mmale = 5.02), Erotic Passion t (420) = 0.59, p = .55 (Mfemale = 5.15; Mmale = 5.24). As for the Romantic Passion, we note women recorded a higher score than men t (420) = 2.15, p < .05 (Mwoman = 5.33; Mmale = 5.03).
Results showed the French version of Yela’s (2006) love scale tested on a Cameroonian sample has an acceptable factor structure at 19 items. Fundamental and internal consistency indices confirmed the factor structure of original version of the scale adjusts in the Cameroonian context. The four dimensions reflect well the overall construct while maintaining their specificity. Despite the sensitivity of the romantic passion dimension to sex, other dimensions and love as one-dimensional construct are insensitive to sex. That French version can therefore be used for Study 2.
3. Study 2: Women’ Mate Profile, Love and Happiness
The aim of this study 2 was to study effect of women’ mate profile on their love and happiness. It is therefore about women committed in a romantic relationship. It is reasonable to believe she feels a certain degree of love towards their romantic partner and derives a certain degree of happiness from it as well. However, defining objective boundaries from which a man can be described as: sexually competent (“fort aux fesses”), providing financial security (“fort aux poches”) or being caring (“fort au cœur”) seems difficult or even impossible. We have therefore experimentally primed in women the subjective feeling of having a mate with one of those three profiles. According with Li et al. (2016), subjective feeling vis-à-vis those profiles may have a more direct influence on romantic relationship than objective elements (sex, money, care) which underpin those profiles, since psychological evaluations of those elements in a romantic relationship are part of the subjectivity of the romantic partners.
Study 2 examined whether priming of the feeling of having a “fort aux fesses” vs. “fort aux poches” vs. “fort au cœur” mate leads women to different degrees of love and happiness. Work has shown that sex (Karandashev, 2019), money (Li et al., 2016) and kindness/affection (Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2012) contribute to the development of the romantic relationship. No study has yet compared the effect of those profiles on the degree of love and/or happiness. Works of Sternberg (1987), Karandashev and Evans (2019) and Yela (2006) on theoretical and operational models of love does not highlight a hierarchy of precedence between the styles and dimensions of love, although some styles and dimensions tend to rely on elements which underpin certain profiles. Moreover, the importance of each component of love differs from one relationship to another, and the emphasis on one component alters the degree of love (Karandashev, 2019). It therefore seems for people in love factors which contribute to the development of romantic relationship are closely related. Following the evolutionary perspective, the sensitivity of a woman for one profile – to the detriment of another – is relative to the adaptation to her environment conditions. Thus, we hypothesized priming of the feeling of having a “fort aux fesses” vs. “fort aux poches” vs. “fort au cœur” mate leads women to similar degrees of love (hypothesis 1) and happiness (hypothesis 2).
3.1. Method
3.1.1. Participants and Experimental Design
The sample of this study consisted of 245 participants committed in heterosexual romantic relationships. They were also recruited by the convenience sampling technique. They were between the ages of 19 and 54 (M = 25.21; SD = 5.83), and had various types of romantic relationships: married (n = 30), cohabiting (n = 19), boy-friend/girl-friend relationship (n = 196). Participants had been in a couple for an average of 3.87 years (SD = 5.18) and had an average of .61 children (SD = 1.33). They were then randomly distributed under one of three experimental conditions. The experimental design was an independent three-modality factor experimental design (S* ˂ PC3 ˃): “fort aux fesses” (n = 87) vs. “fort aux poches” (n = 85) vs. “fort au cœur” (n = 73).
3.1.2. Variables and Experimental Material
1) Independent variable and priming task
Independent variable of this study is the priming of the feeling of having a mate with a profile: “fort aux fesses”vs. “fort aux poches”vs. “fort au cœur”. Three priming tasks corresponding to the three experimental conditions were used to prime in each group the women’ mate profile highlighted. Those priming tasks were designed from the narrative reading technique. Indeed, three stories of 10 lines each have been elaborated. Each showed how the target women’ mate profile is the one par excellence for a real love life. Here are some excerpts from each story: group 1 (“fort aux fesses”) “(....) he is a special lover, because he always knows how to excite, touch, make his partner enjoy, by providing him with sexual sensations that make him lose the verb (...)”; group 2 (“fort aux poches”) “(....) he is a special lover, because he always knows how and when to give money, to respond to the financial worries of his partner, by providing him with financial stability worthy of wealth (...)”; group 3 (“fort au cœur”) “(....) he is a special lover, because he always knows how to put his partner at the center of his attention, and show him by giving him affection, the feeling of being a baby (...)”.
2) Dependent Variables and Scale
Love and happiness are the two dependent variables of the study. They were measured with love scale and subjective happiness scale respectively.
Love scale (Yela, 2006). It is the scale validated in Study 1.
French Version of Subjective Happiness Scale ([SHS-F], Kotsou & Leys 2017). The SHS-F is a tool which captures happiness with four items. For each of the items, participants were invited to position themselves on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (Not very happy) to 7 (Very happy). The analysis of the internal consistency showed that item 4 did not promote a better internal consistency of the scale, so that item was excluded.
3) Potential parasitic variables
Four potential parasitic variables were identified: the number of children, the status of the relationship, the duration of the relationship and the perceived sexual competence of the romantic partner. Each of them was measured with a single item in order to be controlled during statistical analyses.
3.1.3. Experimental Procedure
The experiment took place within the university campus. The participants were led to a room with three rows and each sat on the row of their choice. Each row represented an experimental group corresponding to an experimental condition. Once experimenter had distributed protocols to the participants, he explained to them this is a study on the perception of love. He invited them to first read the text placed at the beginning of the questionnaire and then to answer the following questions. It specified all communications between participants are suspended until the end of the experimentation. Once a participant was done, they had to return their protocol to the experimenter and wait outside. At the end of that stage, the experimenter explained the real objectives of the study and specified that the participant who wishes to do so can withdraw his protocol from the study. No participant withdrew their protocol.
3.1.4. Data Analysis
Data collected was processed by analyses of variance on the SPSS version 23 software. Multivariate Co-Variance Analysis (MANCOVA) and Co-Variance Analysis (ANCOVA) were used to test effect of women’ mate profile on love and happiness respectively. Those two statistical tools have the particularity of undertaking comparisons while controlling for the effect of certain variables. Consistent with previous work (Dailey & Powell, 2017; Kowal et al., 2021; Londeros-Santos et al., 2021), variables number of children, duration and status of romantic relationship and perceived sexual competence of the romantic partner were controlled.
3.2. Results and Discussion
Regardless of the experimental group, results (Table 5) show participants obtained a high score of love (M = 5.28; SD = 1.01) and happiness (M = 5.14; SD = 1.67). They also assigned a high sexual performance score to their romantic partner (M = 5.43; SD = 1.67).
For different experimental groups (Figure 1), when controlling for relationship status, relationship duration, number of children, and perceived sexual competence, there is no effect of the group on love Wilk’s ∆ = .977, F(8.370) = 0.548, p = .820 and happiness F (2.188) = 0.772, p = .46 (M“Fort aux fesses”” = 5.42; M“fort aux poches” = 4.96; M“Fort au coeur” = 5.02). In other words, when we consider participants have the same type of romantic relationship, have an equivalent duration of the relationship, have the same number of children and assign the same level of sexual competence, all participants exposed to different primers (“fort
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Table 5. Internal consistency and descriptive statistics.
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Figure 1. Love and happiness score based on experimental groups.
aux fesses”vs. “fort aux poches”vs. “fort au cœur”) experienced a similar degree of happiness and love. When comparing those groups for each dimension of love, the results are the same: Commitment F(2.188) = 0.519, p = .60 (M“Fort aux fesses” = 5.48; M“fort aux poches” = 5.49; M“Fort au coeur” = 5.20); Intimacy F(2.188) = 0.626, p = .54 (M“Fort aux fesses” = 5.32; M”fort aux poches” = 5.28; M“Fort au coeur” = 5.10); Erotic Passion F(2.188) = 0.037, p = .96 (M“Fort aux fesses” = 5.29; M“fort aux poches” = 5.30; M“Fort au coeur” = 4.96) and Romantic Passion F(2.188) = 0.770, p = .47 (M“Fort aux fesses” = 5.30; M“fort aux poches” = 5.47; M“Fort au coeur” = 5.02). These results confirm our hypotheses that the three women’ mate profiles do not lead to different degrees of love and happiness. In accordance with evolutionary psychological postulates (Buss, 2008; Eastwick, 2016) one cannot have a standard mate profile who makes women more in love and/or happier.
4. Discussion
This research aimed to study the effect of women’s mate profile on their love and happiness. It was conducted with a French-speaking Cameroonian sample. In the absence of a French-language love scale available in literature, one had to be validated. This research was therefore structured in two studies. The first aimed to validate in Cameroonian context, the French version of Yela’s (2006) love scale. The results showed French version has psychometric qualities which testify to its adjustment in Cameroonian context with a four-dimensional factor structure and 19 items. That scale made it possible to undertake the second study, which aimed to test the priming effect of the feeling of having a “fort aux fesses”vs. “fort aux poches”vs. “fort au cœur” mate on women’ love and happiness. The results in agreement with our hypotheses showed none of those profiles makes women more in love (hypothesis 1) and/or happier (hypothesis 2). The idea of a standard women’ mate profile which would provide women with a certain degree of love and happiness seems irrelevant as evolutionary psychology argues. Everything suggests debate which has inflamed social networks in Cameroon, tending to maintain that a partner “fort aux fesses” makes women more in love and/or happier would be just a “buzz”.
Confirmatory factor analysis showed French version of Yela’s Love Scale (Yela, 2006) was adjusted with a Cameroonian sample. Although factor structure of the original scale has been retained, there have been modifications. Item C3 of the commitment dimension in the original version did not make a statistically significant contribution in the French version and was deleted. The French version of love scale therefore has four dimensions spread over 19 items: commitment (four items), intimacy (five items), erotic passion (five items) and romantic passion (five items). Correlation analyzes have shown relationship between the overall score and each dimension highlights a redundancy of constructs (Nyock Ilouga & Moussa-Mouloungui, 2019; Schober et al., 2018), which is not the case for the relationship between dimensions only. That shows each dimension can effectively account for love as an interchangeable construct with global love, while retaining its specificity with respect to the other dimensions. The scale showed insensitivity to sex, with the exception of the romantic passion dimension, where it was found to be higher in women than in men. Given that romantic passion refers to purely psychological needs related to love, this difference can be explained by the fact women are less involved in emotional infidelity and promiscuity than men (Pinto & Arantes, 2017). The French version of the love scale also showed good internal consistency. Overall, those results provide an additional argument in favor of the relevance of Yela’s (2006) theoretical model to another culture. It offers a version of the love scale adapted to capture love in a romantic relationship among French-speaking individuals in a Cameroonian context.
In study 2, the results that women are not unanimous on the profile of mate who makes them more in love and/or happier reflect intra-sex differences incorporated in romantic relationships among women. Whether in establishing or maintaining a romantic relationship, women have no standard profile (Buss, 2008; Karandashev & Fata, 2014; Lu et al., 2015). Changes in their preferences are consistent with evolutionary psychology. The evolutionary psychological perspective holds that love is a set of coping mechanisms to deal with survival and reproductive issues (Buss, 2018). This means each woman in love is in the process of adapting to her environment conditions, which generates particular needs. This may explain why in all three groups women had high love and happiness scores. It should be remembered that the main elements founding each profile (sex, money, affection) contribute positively to the development of an intimate relationship (Karandashev & Fata, 2014; Li et al., 2016; Lu et al., 2015; Yela, 2006). Moreover, it should be noted there is a permanent interaction between those three characteristics. Maintaining high sexual performance requires a healthy lifestyle and a good physical health which are difficult to have if a man does not have enough money. Having enough money makes it easy to adequately meet a woman’s other needs, which constitute affection, caring, thoughfulness. In this sense, the present research reinforces this research, as well as that on love theories which do not establish a hierarchy of precedence between styles and dimensions of love (Karandashev & Evans, 2019; Lee, 1976; Sternberg, 1987; Yela, 2006), despite the fact that some dimensions are closer to some profiles. In this case, erotic passion is closer to “fort aux fesses” profile, intimacy and romantic passion are closer to “fort au cœur” profile. Moreover, Karandashev (2019) specified that those who are in love do not accentuate a single dimension of love. Our results support this view.
Despite interesting results found in both studies, the current research has some limitations. First, confirmatory factor analysis yielded incremental clues ranging from average to good. The construct and incremental validities of French version of the love scale were not tested, just as the romantic passion dimension showed a sensitivity to sex. This research is therefore only an initial validation. Further research is required to complete the psychometric qualities of the scale. Reservations may also be expressed regarding the sample of the study, which was limited only to students. Students committed in a romantic relationship were asked to give rating of their love for the current partner. This can be disturbed by the current atmosphere within the couple such as arguments, quarrels, etc. (Ngah Essomba et al., 2022). It is also possible priming and comparison of groups justify the results obtained. Further research should try to quantify each profile and examine the degree of love and happiness variance explained by each profile. Finally, self-reported measures used may constitute a bias because of social desirability (Karandashev, 2019). In the current study, participants were blind to the purpose of the experiment and being unaware of what was being measured.
The foregoing limitations do not exclude the theoretical and practical implications of the current research. The results of this research suggest different women’ mate profile make them equally in love and happy. This research complements literature on the romantic relationship by providing arguments which provide information on the stabilizing factors of romantic relationship. It extends the study of love to African culture in general and Cameroonian in particular. This is a great step forward insofar as studies on love in Cameroon were still unexplored until then. Results of studies 1 and 2 pave the way for future studies with promising prospects. Finally, this research reinforces evolutionary psychological perspectives by confirming love is also the expression of an adaptation process (Eastwick, 2016). On a practical level, this research offers a tool to now capture love in the Cameroonian context. It also shows women no longer need to look for a man who has all the characteristics (Buss, 2008), given that it is rare or even impossible. It seems more likely to find one who has a dominant characteristic. Understanding the mechanisms of maintaining the romantic relationship is crucial for couples therapists and mental health of individuals. Indeed, success of a romantic relationship is accompanied by benefits for the well-being of individuals (Pereira et al., 2022).
5. Conclusion
Love is an emotion which is experienced in everyday life in all cultures. It very often gives rise to rather curious debates in public opinion. This research emerges following a debate within public opinion in Cameroon. It aimed to study effect of women’s mate profile on love and happiness. From a first study, a French version of the love scale adjusted to the Cameroonian context was proposed. In the second study, this scale as well as that of happiness was used to measure the level of love and happiness among women who felt they had a “fort aux fesses” vs. “fort aux poches” vs. “fort au cœur” mate. Results showed all three categories of women were in love and happy, with no significant difference between them. The debate which furnishes social networks in Cameroon is just a “buzz”. The present research provides additional evidence on the factors of romantic relationship maintenance and on the study of romantic relationships in Cameroonian context. The results of the current research help to better understand psychological processes involved in the romantic relationship and enrich the literature on evolutionary psychology.