Why Do You Want a Romantic Relationship? Individual Differences in Motives for Romantic Relationship Pursuit

Relationship science currently lacks a theoretical approach to capture the variety of motivations potentially underlying the pursuit of romantic relationships. We introduce the Autonomous Motivation for Romantic Pursuit Scale (AMRPS) which conceptualizes and measures motivations ranging in levels of autonomy (from a motivation to intrinsic motivation), based on self-determination theory (SDT). In Study 1 ( N = 1,280), we show how the motivations assessed using AMRPS relate to existing constructs implicated in romantic pursuit (e.g. fear of being single, commitment readiness), thereby organizing them into a coherent theoretical framework. In Study 2 ( N = 3,186), we validate this approach using longitudinal data, showing singles who are higher in autonomous motivation for relationship pursuit are more likely to be partnered six months later. These studies demonstrate the usefulness of SDT for consolidating into one theoretical and measurement framework the variety of motivations (including an absence of motivation) for pursuing romantic relationships.