Symposia
Couples / Close Relationships
Corey Petit, M.A.
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
meghan costello, M.A.
Graduate Student
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Gabrielle Hunt, PhD
Graduate Student
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Jessica Kansky, Ph.D.
Post-Doc
Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center
Charleston, South Carolina
Joseph Allen, Ph.D.
Tenured Professor
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Jealousy is a robust portent of dysfunction, ranging from alcohol abuse, social anxiety, and depression, to relationship dissatisfaction and violence. Importantly, jealousy may mark a maladaptive reaction to low relationship power. Indeed, feeling unable to control the trajectory of the relationship likely prompts vigilance about threats to the relationship, such as a potential romantic rival. Jealousy may also relate to the relationship satisfaction of both partners within the relationship and to individual’s relationship even in later relationships, perpetuating adverse relationship patterns that promote unsatisfying romantic relationships and thus predict decreasing relationship satisfaction going forward.
As part of a larger study, 108 ethnically diverse individuals were assessed at age 21. During these visits, participants engaged in conversations with a romantic partner about a shared disagreement. These discussions were coded using the Autonomy and Relatedness Coding System (Allen et al., 2003), which captured maladaptive behaviors that undermined the autonomy of one’s partner (e.g. blurring personal boundaries) and are considered to be efforts to exact relationship power. Couples completed the Multi-dimensional Jealousy scale (Pfeffier & Wong, 1989) and the Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, Dicke, & Hendrick, 1998). The continuing participant also completed the Relationship Assessment Scale at age 26.
We conducted actor-partner interdependence models to test within and across partner associations (APIM; Kenny, 1996; Kenny & Cook, 1999). There was a significant actor effect between self-reported relationship power and jealousy (β = 0.43, [95% CI (-.06, -.80)], p </span>= .02). There was a significant partner effect between autonomy undermining behaviors and jealousy (β = 4.79, [95% CI (1.78, 7.53)], p </span>< .01). There was both an actor and partner effect between relationship satisfaction and jealousy (β = -0.39, [95% CI (-0.62, -0.15)], p > .01; β = -0.25, [95% CI (-0.49, -0.01)], p = .04). Finally, jealousy predicted a relative decrease in relationship satisfaction from age 21 to age 26 (β = -.24, p = .02). Overall, this study suggests the value in a shift towards conceptualizing jealousy at the relationship rather than individual level and offers relationship power as a potentially central element in this dyadic framework. If replicated, findings could motivate and inform novel intervention efforts focused on addressing relationship power imbalances as a means to reduce jealousy and its concomitant effects.