It is also important to note that preoccupation is only
one factor of early-stage romantic love that can explain
the variation of pain relief among individuals performing
this task. Several other factors such as impulsivity,
partner attractiveness, and degree of emotional dependence
may interact with preoccupation or act independently
to produce analgesia. Differences in attachment in
different relationships can also lead to varying degrees of
preoccupation. Preoccupation with a romantic partner in
a healthy relationship may be one of positive emotional
support, whereas in an unhealthy relationship, it may
turn into one of compulsion, addiction, and subsequent
jealousy. Future studies should systematically isolate and
examine other factors involved in different types of early
romantic relationships.
There are some important limitations to note in this study.
First, we used a measure of convenience to assess preoccupation
with the romantic partner. The one-item questionnaire
has not been validated as a measure of partner
preoccupation. Therefore, obsession and preoccupation
may be better assessed using other tools. Although most
validated obsession-related questionnaires are clinical and
related to obsessive compulsive disorder, Doron et al.
have recently presented a 12-item measure that assesses
obsessive-compulsive symptoms specific to relationships
[25]. Such scales may provide better information regarding
the relationship between partner preoccupation and
analgesia. In isolating preoccupation, we also tried to
control for other factors involved in early romantic love
such as attractiveness. Although the mean attractiveness
did vary between romantic partner and acquaintance
images, the difference did not significantly correlate with