Development of the Flirting Styles Inventory

How, you may wonder, did the Flirting Styles Inventory come to be developed. This paper attempts to answer your question:

“Individual Differences in the Communication of Romantic Interest: Development of the Flirting Styles Inventory,” Jeffrey A. Hall, Steve Carter, Michael J. Cody and Julie M. Albright [pictured here], Communication Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 4, 2010, pp. 365-93. The authors, at University of Kansas, eHarmony, and the University of Southern California, explain:

“Relationship initiation research supports the existence of 5 styles of communicating romantic interest in others: traditional, physical, sincere, playful, and polite. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on a large adult sample (N = 5,020) supported the existence of the styles. Styles predictably corresponded with self-monitoring and a 5-factor personality model. Women scored higher on all styles, except the playful style. Predictive validity was demonstrated by correlating styles to courtship initiation behaviors and past relationship experiences. The physical, sincere, and playful styles correlated with more dating success. The physical and sincere styles correlated with rapid relational escalation of important relationships with more emotional connection and greater physical chemistry.”

Here is detail from the study:

Want to take inventory of the Flirting Styles Inventory? Go ahead: “Welcome to the University of Kansas Flirting Styles Inventory!”

(Thanks to investigator Neil Martin for bringing this to our attention.)