A survey entitled “How do Poles love?”, the first of its kind in 15 years, conducted by opinion polling and market research company “ARC Rynek i Opinia” and requested by “Sympatia.pl” dating site revealed that 79 percent of the respondents believe in everlasting love.
“The exceptionality of this research owes to the fact that love is a great challenge for the respondents because of its multilateral aspects. We were interested in how Poles understand love in an intimate relationship, are they romantic, what’s important for them when building a stable and happy relationship, and also how they cope with problems and crises. We were curious about gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status and place of residence,” said sociologist Julita Czarnecka of the Łódź University.
Above that, 90 percent of questioned Poles said that love brings meaning to life. Regardless of gender, age and marital status, Poles make out a couple of love types. The most important type is partner-like love (75 percent). Second place went to love with regard to children and grandchildren (44 percent), then love for parents and grandparents (22 percent).
The survey also found that 84 percent of respondents deem that men and women differ in terms of their approach to love. Women experience love through their emotions, they like talking about feelings, they need affection and closeness. Men’s take on love is more “objective-based” and rational. Instead of talking about feelings they find their task in looking after their partners and providing them with security.
The survey also showed that while “looking for the other half” Poles pay attention mostly to personality traits (92 percent) out of which the most important are goodness, fairness and truthfulness. For as many as 89 percent of respondents, personality is important and 82 percent are also interested in intelligence.
With almost 90 percent of Poles considering themselves Catholics, the survey showed that 39 percent of the respondents found denomination to be an important feature relationship-wise, 34 percent thought nationality important, 29 percent stressed the importance of skin colour and 18 percent of a wallet’s contents.
A total of 18 percent had found their partner on the net, 14 percent at their workplace and 10 percent in school or at a university.
The survey also showed that 72 percent were or still are in one or two relationships. A total of 14 percent were in three up to five relationships and 13 percent have not yet been in a relationship. Most of the respondents stress that without love, one cannot build a happy relationship and over 66 percent believe that formalising the relationship does not contribute on its durability.