Love Addiction Statistics

What Is Love Addiction and Who Is Affected by It?

Love addiction is a behavioral condition characterized by obsessive-compulsive involvement in romantic relationships that often harms your emotional and psychological well-being.

Addiction to love shares similarities with other types of behavioral addictions, like gambling, social media, and substance addiction.

Research suggests that the brain’s reward system plays a vital role in love addiction. It can trigger neurochemical patterns, such as the release of dopamine and serotonin, which is also found in substance use disorders (SUDs) and sexual addictions.

Research also finds that some people may be more likely to be addicted to love.

People at higher risk of developing a love addiction include:

• People with emotional trauma, including childhood neglect or abuse, who look to love to fill emotional voids
• People with low self-esteem who use relationships to feel valued or accepted
• People with attachment issues that stem from complex relationships in childhood may cling to romantic partners and have a fear of abandonment.
• People with impulsive personality traits driven by immediate rewards may chase the rush and excitement that love can provide.

How Many People in the U.S. Have a Love Addiction?

Also known as affective dependence or pathological love, love addiction is not officially classified as a clinical disorder. However, studies show it affects about 5-10% of adults in the United States. 

In other words, millions of adults may experience addictive behaviors toward love interests, even if the relationship causes negative consequences to their physical and mental health.

Love Addiction Rates Worldwide

Reports show that love addiction affects about 3-26% of the global population.

This wide range of prevalence occurs because of the differences in how love addiction is defined and measured. Some models use the characteristics of addiction disorders to understand love addiction.

These researchers found that pathological love can look like the following experiences:

• Obsessive love is where all aspects of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are oriented around your love interest.
• Increase tolerance, where your need to be around your romantic partner increases over time.
• Emotional dependence, where you feel incomplete without them, or you use your love for them to deal with emotional distress.
• Relapse, regarding how hard it is to decrease the time you spend with or think about your love interest
• Physical withdrawal symptoms when away from your romantic partner include irritability, nausea, anxiety, stomach cramps, frustration, etc.
• Becoming avoidant to your personal needs, hobbies, friends, responsibilities, and other important aspects of your life to maintain or pursue a romantic relationship

Love Addiction Statistics by Demographic

Some demographics may be more likely to have a behavioral addiction, such as a love addiction.

Gender and Love Addiction

Women report love addiction more than men. However, this may also be because of the higher participation rates of women in these studies.

In some studies, 8-10% of women reported signs of love addiction compared to around 3-5% of men. 

These numbers may reflect societal influences around expectations of love relationships or that women may be more open about emotional dependence than men.

Age and Love Addiction

Some studies show that love addiction affects younger people, especially college students, at a rate of 25%. This is likely because of the intense, complex, and exciting rush of emotions new love passions (like romantic interests) can feel at this age.

Younger people may be more likely to become emotionally dependent or engage in unhealthy relationship patterns. This is especially true when balancing personal identity and responsibility with romantic interests.

Race and Love Addiction

A 2017 report reviewed over 200 articles on addictions recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-5. Of these studies, none were focused on race and love addiction. This shows a clear gap in research on this topic.

As a result, health professionals do not have information to understand how race or cultural factors may influence affective dependence and compulsive behaviors toward love.

More research is needed to explore these differences so that treatment of love addiction, like psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, can be inclusive and effective for all groups.

Socioeconomic Factors and Love Addiction

People in lower socioeconomic conditions may be more vulnerable to love addiction. Financial stress, lack of resources, and limited access to mental health care can contribute to emotional dependency in romantic relationships.

This can, in turn, create a pattern of love addiction in love relationships to cope with difficult circumstances. More research is needed to fully understand how socioeconomic status affects love addiction, including some of its contributing factors, like childhood trauma and attachment style.

Statistics on Effects of Love Addiction

Love addiction can have adverse effects on a person’s overall well-being. Some key impacts may include:

• Relationship instability: Difficulty maintaining stable relationships, often moving quickly from one partner to another or staying in toxic relationships.
• Experiencing difficulty being alone: Feeling lost without a partner and finding it hard to be independent or spend time alone.
• Suffering from low self-esteem and limited boundaries: Relying on romantic relationships for validation, self-worth, and constant reassurance.
• Engaging in unhealthy patterns: Using sex or emotions to manipulate and control others, making it difficult to establish meaningful and healthy relationships.
• Facing a risk of substance abuse: Developing other addictions, like drug and alcohol abuse, as maladaptive coping strategies for emotional instability in relationships.
• Sexualizing difficult emotions: Turning feelings like guilt, stress, loneliness, or fear into sexual behaviors, which can contribute to sex addiction.

Find Help and Support for Love Addiction Now

Desiring romantic love is typical for people. Yet, if you think that you or a loved one may be struggling with a love addiction, help is here for you.

Therapy techniques like cognitive-behavioral therapy can help you understand the root cause of your addiction, such as childhood trauma, low self-esteem, or more. You can also find support groups and online resources that connect you with others who can relate to what you’re going through.

Finding the proper support is key to improving your emotional well-being and sense of self outside of love interests. You can start by contacting a licensed therapist or searching for a support group near you that specializes in relationship and emotional health.

These steps can help you regain balance in your romantic life while guiding you toward developing healthy relationships.