TruthBook Religious News Blog

In the nation’s first survey of altruistic love, scholars have found that people who have strong feelings of love for people in general are more likely to have strong romantic relationships.

The survey, released Thursday, Feb. 9 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, found wide support for altruistic love on a number of items. It also measured other related issues and compared altruistic values and behaviors with those in a similar study from 2002, and found those scores rising.

The General Social Survey at NORC conducts the nation’s most comprehensive, nation-wide, scientific survey on altruism and empathy, including measures of altruistic behaviors as well as altruistic love. Its most recent data is in the report, “Altruism and Empathy in America: Trends and Correlates,” authored by Tom W. Smith, Director of the GSS.

Those who score high on altruistic love questions are more likely to rate their lives in general and marriages in particular as “very happy.” People were asked to rate their agreement with descriptions of altruistic love, such as “I’d rather suffer myself than let the one I love suffer,” and “I’m willing to sacrifice my own wishes to let the one I love achieve his or hers.”

Among those least likely to endorse expressions of altruistic love, 50 percent rated their marriage as “very happy,” but among those most expressing altruistic love towards their partner, 67 percent say their marriage in “very happy.” Also, the married are more likely to rank high on altruistic love than the unmarried. Forty percent of the married scored in the top category on altruistic love, but only 20 percent of the never married and 26-28 percent of the divorced and separated had top scores on altruistic love.

The connection between romantic love and altruistic behavior probably comes from an appreciation of love developed in a healthy marriage and reflects the connection between marriage and love in general which is part of the teachings of many religions, including Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encyclical, Smith said.

Religion in general plays a role in promoting altruism, the study found. In particular, people who said they pray daily were more likely to perform altruistic acts than those who never pray (77 times a year, versus 60 times).

Feelings of altruism and altruistic behaviors have been increasing in recent years, according to the survey, which found that the traditional value of caring for others is something most Americans agree on, despite their political differences.

The survey found that 75 percent of respondents in the recent survey reported having tender, concerned feelings toward the less fortunate, 5 percent more than reported in 2002. The number of respondents who felt people should look out for themselves and not “overly worry about others” fell by 7 percent to 25 percent.

Among other findings in the study:

• Women have a greater feeling of empathy than men.

• Children who grow up in a two-parent household are more likely to develop empathetic feelings, while those reared only by mothers, are slightly likely to develop the feelings.

• Least likely to develop empathy are children, particularly girls, raised only by a father.

• Financial status had very little to do with feelings of altruism or empathy.