The purpose of this research was to study empirically the experience of love in adult men and women. A Q-sort was developed by having independent raters classify over 300 statements about experiences in love as reflecting: (1) one of six modes of love--affective, cognitive, behavioral, verbal, physical, or fantasy; and (2) one of three directions of exchange in love--receiving, giving, or sharing. Nominated to participate were 12 married and 12 unmarried couples from four age groups (adolescent, young adult, middle-aged adult, and older adult). Analysis of variance revealed significant effects for Mode, Direction, Mode X Direction, Age X Mode, Couples X Direction, and Couples X Sex X Mode (p<01) and Age X Mode X Direction (p<05). There were no effects for sex or marital status. Results indicated that there is considerable individual variability in the experience of love, and that there are notable differences as well as similarities between the generations in their experiences of love. Statistical tests revealed that sexual intimacy was significantly less characteristic of older adult love compared to that for other age groups and that the tendency to idealize (fantasy) was more characteristic of adolescent and older adult love. The importance of the affective, cognitive, behavioral and verbal modes of love did not differ significantly between the age groups. (Author/SE)