College students from secondary population centers in India Pakistan,
Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia
, England, and the United States were asked to rate the importance of
love for both the establishment and the maintenance of a marriage. Lov
e tended to receive greatest importance in the Western and Westernized
nations and least importance in the underdeveloped Eastern nations. T
hese differences were stronger and clearer for decisions regarding the
establishment of a marriage than for the maintenance and dissolution
of a marriage. There were few significant sex differences, either acro
ss or within countries. Individualistic cultures, as opposed to collec
tive cultures, assigned much greater importance to love in marriage de
cisions. Respondents assigning greater importance to love also tended
to come from nations with higher economic standards of living, higher
marriage rates and divorce rates, and lower fertility rates.