The aim of the present study was to investigate the process of love-choice in middle class heterosexual and homosexual men and women, in different age groups, in different love situations - dating, marriage (stable cohabitation), separation/divorce and remarriage (second or subsequent stable cohabitation), the characteristics of conjugal relations they established, and the role attributed to the couple therapy in the resolution of conjugal conflits. Two groups were studied: 240 heterosexual subjects (53 single, 64 married, 63 separated or divorced, and 60 remarried) and 116 homosexuals (49 single, 36 married, 19 separated or divorced, and 12 remarried). For the evaluation of the love-choice, 26 attributes were used and displayed over 5 points evaluation scales, as proposed by Buss (1989), as well as semi-structured interviews (Féres-Carneiro, 1987), containing topics referring to relevant dimensions of conjugal interaction. The results have shown some significant differences between men and women of both groups and some similarities in the process of love-choice of the hetero and the homosexual subjects. These results are relevant to the clinical practice of couple therapy, enabling a better comprehension of the specificities of love relationship in different types of conjugality.
love-choice; conjugal relation; heterosexuality; homosexuality
