تفاوت های فرهنگ و جنسیت در حسادت عاشقانه

Jealousy is an intense emotion that is experienced in the context of romantic relationships. Previous research reported gender differences in ratings of jealousy over a sexual versus emotional infidelity. This study explored culture and gender differences in jealousy using a mixed methods survey design. One hundred and forty-five undergraduates from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo participated. The Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism Scale, Self-Report Jealousy Scale, and a modified Emotional and Sexual Jealousy Scale were used for analyses. Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that gender was a better predictor than culture in jealousy ratings involving an emotional infidelity; but culture was a better predictor for jealousy ratings involving a sexual infidelity. t-Tests also revealed that those who experienced an infidelity in the past reported significantly higher jealousy ratings and that women reported significantly higher jealousy ratings in emotional but not in sexual infidelity than men. The qualitative results revealed four dominant themes related to participant’s causal attributions of jealousy: Infidelity, Expectations of Time and Commitment, Social Media and Self-Esteem. The authors suggest that future research focus on intersexual and intrasexual differences in jealousy, as well the role social media may play in relationship expectations.

The expression of jealousy is related to feelings of depression, anxiety and anger, and a significant loss of self-esteem. Jealousy results in a wide variety of behaviors including destruction of romantic relationships, violence, suicide, murder, marital problems, and depression (Pines & Aronson, 1983). Explanations of jealousy have focused on evolutionary theory, personality traits, and relationship history. Cross-cultural studies exploring gender differences in emotional and sexual infidelities have been consistent with the evolutionary explanation of jealousy; however, the extent to which individuals feel distress when made aware of sexual and emotional infidelities varies across cultures. Moreover, because gender equality and same-sex marriage is becoming more ubiquitous within modern day society, the question remains whether gender differences in reactivity toward emotional versus sexual infidelity are still reliable. While research emphasized cultural differences in attribution of human emotions, there has not been an exploration of potential differences in how a culturally diverse set of individuals attribute their feelings of jealousy. The purpose of the current study is to explore the attributions of jealousy in a multi-cultural population where there is potential to develop a more representative paradigm through the interaction between gender and culture.