The relationships between sugar typologies, materialism and love styles on perception of consent and level of acceptance

Abstract

This study examined the relationship of sugar relationship typologies, materialism, and love styles upon perception of consent and level of acceptance in Singapore. Specifically, Sugar Prostitution, Sugar Dating and Pragmatic Love sugar relationship typologies were of interest. Three hundred and thirty-one participants (111 males, 220 females) were randomly assigned to either the Sugar Prostitution, Sugar Dating or Pragmatic Love vignette, in which they were instructed to evaluate their perception of consent and acceptance towards the given vignette. Regression results revealed that Ludus love style was a significant predictor of acceptance for the Sugar Prostitution typology, with a moderate effect size (f 2 = .30). However, Pragma love style was not predictive of acceptance for either Sugar Dating or Pragmatic Love typologies. Instead, Ludus (f 2 = .15) and Mania (f 2 = .22) had moderate effect sizes and predicted acceptance for Sugar Dating and Pragmatic Love typologies respectively. Findings further established that endorsing greater materialism supported acceptance towards sugar relationships across the three vignettes. Furthermore, consent was perceived to be given by the sugar baby in the Sugar Prostitution vignette, but not in the Sugar Dating and Pragmatic Love vignettes. Additional analysis found that participants from younger age bands were more accepting towards sugar relationships than participants from older age bands, regardless of the vignette received. This study holds practical implications in legal settings. The findings highlighted the acceptance of sugar relationships in Singapore and suggests that societal values may be changing, with more emphasis placed on materialism.