Romance and Mushy Stuff.

So. Love Attitudes Survey.
I found out a lot about my friends through this survey. What stuck out to me, however, was how the stories influenced their attitudes on romance.

Respondent 1: Score - 111. Religion - Atheist. Parents - Divorced.
I think this person's religious background and familial issues strongly influence her views on romance and love.

Respondent 2: Score - 65. Religion - Baptist (I cringed a little inside. Baptist is not a religion, my friend!) Parents - Divorced.
Now. On the surface, one might expect the score to be a closer to Respondent 1's. However, this young lady got married in high school, and her husband was soon deployed to Iraq. He came back for the birth of their first child, and is now being treated for PTSD. This young lady is one of my best friends, and he parents' divorce and remarriages didn't seem to negatively influence her love attitude - on the contrary: it made her more of a romantic.

Respondent 3: Score - 81. Religion - Christian. Parents - Married.
This person is currently in a committed, long-term relationship. I think that might influence his views on romance just a little. (It's with me.)

Respondent 4: Score - 104. Religion - Christian. Parents - Divorced.
This person is an openly gay 19-year-old man. He endured bullying in high school and to this day, merely for who he is attracted to and who he loves. Based on this, he is much more realistic than romantic.

Respondent 5: Score - 92. Religion - Non-denominational (I cringed a little, again.) Parents - Married.
This person has never had a boyfriend. She believes that God will send the right person into her life at the right time for her and for him. She has not experienced romance in the context of a relationship. Therefore, her views are right in the middle.

Respondent 6: Score - 63. Religion - Christian. Parents - Separated.
This person is the twin brother of Respondent 4. He is also openly gay. What is interesting here is that this person is the younger twin, and is much more outgoing and reckless than his brother. He is much more of a romantic than his brother.

So there you have it. Our pasts do influence our presents. Our environments do influence our views and ideals. It's not just biology that influences our interactions with people and our partner selection. There are so many more factors.