تفاوتهای جنسی در حسادت در واکنش به خیانت: بررسی تعدیل کننده های جمعیتی در یک نمونه تصادفی ملی

Studies examining sex differences in jealousy have often relied on student samples and were restricted to the evaluation of a selected few moderators. In this study, a nationally representative survey of American households was presented with either an actual or a hypothetical infidelity scenario (which appeared as either a forced choice or as continuous measures). Significant sex differences only emerged for forced choice measures and not for continuous measures. Importantly, this effect appeared most strongly in participants reporting reactions to an actual infidelity. We also explored a number of potential moderators of this effect. These moderators were more influential for the hypothetical than for the actual infidelity scenario. Exploratory analysis of additional demographic variables was conducted.

From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, sex differences in jealousy are seen as a result of differential challenges faced by ancestral men and women when confronted with possible infidelity of their mating partner (Buss et al., 1992 and Daly et al., 1982). From this perspective, ancestral men are seen as particularly vulnerable to sexual infidelity as it put them at risk of taking care of a child that was not their own. In contrast, ancestral women had to fear the loss of child-rearing support from a mate in case of an emotional infidelity and possible abandonment by their partner. Men therefore faced the challenge of paternal uncertainty whereas women faced the challenge of ensuring paternal investment (Buss et al., 1992). According to the theory, these different ancestral challenges boosted men’s jealousy in response to sexual infidelity and women’s jealousy in response to emotional infidelity (Sagarin, 2005).

Since its inception, the theory of evolved sex differences in jealousy has inspired numerous studies and provoked intense debate. The present study helps to forward this debate in a number of ways. First, it offers an unusually strong level of generalizability stemming from its national representative sample. Second, it offers the strongest evidence to date that the sex difference in jealousy appears not only in response to hypothetical infidelity scenarios but also in response to actual infidelity experiences. Third, it offers evidence regarding a number of demographic moderators, some replicating (or notably not replicating) prior investigations, others suggesting potentially fruitful directions for future theory development and research. Our study will certainly not close the debate (and, indeed, our continuous measure results provide evidence arguably favorable to opponents of the theory), but we hope it will help to move the debate forward.