Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment

Anecdotal reports indicate that women dislike their partner’s body odor (BO) during the breakdown of a relationship; however, whether disliking a partner’s BO is associated with intentions to break up has not been empirically tested. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate, for th...

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Autores principales:	Madeleine Keaveny, Mehmet Kibris Mahmut
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	romantic relationships olfaction relationship breakdown Sniffin’ sticks body odor Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/045aed077eca4359b481266a1b42ca98
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:045aed077eca4359b481266a1b42ca982021-11-25T16:58:57ZLove Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment10.3390/brainsci111115222076-3425https://doaj.org/article/045aed077eca4359b481266a1b42ca982021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/11/1522https://doaj.org/toc/2076-3425Anecdotal reports indicate that women dislike their partner’s body odor (BO) during the breakdown of a relationship; however, whether disliking a partner’s BO is associated with intentions to break up has not been empirically tested. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate, for the first time, whether disliking one’s partner’s BOs is associated with experiencing lower commitment to a romantic relationship. Eighty participants (48 partnered, 32 single and previously partnered) completed self-report questionnaires about their current or previous romantic relationship and the amount of exposure to—and hedonic ratings of—their current or former partner’s BOs. Olfactory function was also tested, and participants smelled and rated various pieces of clothing imbued with a stranger’s BO. The results demonstrated that for participants who had experienced a breakup, historically higher levels of relationship commitment were associated with higher hedonic ratings of a previous partner’s BOs, regardless of the type of BOs. For participants currently in a relationship, lower relationship commitment was associated with higher breakup intentions in response to smelling their partner’s BOs. These preliminary results contribute evidence for the positive association between exposure to a partner’s BOs and favorable hedonic appraisals of BOs; however, further research needs to be conducted in this area to investigate nuances. Lower levels of exposure to one’s partner’s BOs may be more indicative of relationship commitment than exposure to hedonically unpleasant BOs of one’s partner. The findings are discussed with reference to their implications for interventions in relationship breakdown.Madeleine KeavenyMehmet Kibris MahmutMDPI AGarticleromantic relationshipsolfactionrelationship breakdownSniffin’ sticksbody odorNeurosciences. Biological psychiatry. NeuropsychiatryRC321-571ENBrain Sciences, Vol 11, Iss 1522, p 1522 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	romantic relationships olfaction relationship breakdown Sniffin’ sticks body odor Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571
spellingShingle	romantic relationships olfaction relationship breakdown Sniffin’ sticks body odor Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry RC321-571 Madeleine Keaveny Mehmet Kibris Mahmut Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment
description	Anecdotal reports indicate that women dislike their partner’s body odor (BO) during the breakdown of a relationship; however, whether disliking a partner’s BO is associated with intentions to break up has not been empirically tested. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate, for the first time, whether disliking one’s partner’s BOs is associated with experiencing lower commitment to a romantic relationship. Eighty participants (48 partnered, 32 single and previously partnered) completed self-report questionnaires about their current or previous romantic relationship and the amount of exposure to—and hedonic ratings of—their current or former partner’s BOs. Olfactory function was also tested, and participants smelled and rated various pieces of clothing imbued with a stranger’s BO. The results demonstrated that for participants who had experienced a breakup, historically higher levels of relationship commitment were associated with higher hedonic ratings of a previous partner’s BOs, regardless of the type of BOs. For participants currently in a relationship, lower relationship commitment was associated with higher breakup intentions in response to smelling their partner’s BOs. These preliminary results contribute evidence for the positive association between exposure to a partner’s BOs and favorable hedonic appraisals of BOs; however, further research needs to be conducted in this area to investigate nuances. Lower levels of exposure to one’s partner’s BOs may be more indicative of relationship commitment than exposure to hedonically unpleasant BOs of one’s partner. The findings are discussed with reference to their implications for interventions in relationship breakdown.
format	article
author	Madeleine Keaveny Mehmet Kibris Mahmut
author_facet	Madeleine Keaveny Mehmet Kibris Mahmut
author_sort	Madeleine Keaveny
title	Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment
title_short	Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment
title_full	Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment
title_fullStr	Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment
title_full_unstemmed	Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment
title_sort	love stinks: the association between body odors and romantic relationship commitment
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/045aed077eca4359b481266a1b42ca98
work_keys_str_mv	AT madeleinekeaveny lovestinkstheassociationbetweenbodyodorsandromanticrelationshipcommitment AT mehmetkibrismahmut lovestinkstheassociationbetweenbodyodorsandromanticrelationshipcommitment
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Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment

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