Do love styles predict lifetime Number of sex partners?

The relationship between love styles and lifetime number of sexual partners was explored using survey data from 507 college students. Love styles significantly (p < .001) contributed to the prediction of number of lifetime sex partners after controlling for demographic characteristics and attitudes toward sexually transmitted infections. In the final model (R² =.22), number of sex partners was positively correlated (p <.001) with respondent age, romantic lovers (eros), and game-playing (ludus) lovers, and was negatively correlated with religiosity (p < .05). The results suggest that the Love Attitudes Scale may provide an indirect measure of number of sex partners when direct assessment of risk for sexually transmitted infections is not feasible.