Abstract
Experiences of romantic jealousy, measured by ratings of emotional and sexual jealousy, in same-orientation and mixed-orientation hypothetical relationships were examined among 83 heterosexual cisgender women, 18 years of age or older, who are students at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Surveys were distributed through SONA systems and were available to students enrolled in at least one psychology course at the time of participation. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four possible vignettes, of which followed a 2 (partner’s sexual orientation) x 2 (gender of partner’s friend) factorial design, and were instructed to read and imagine themselves in the presented hypothetical relationship. Then, they were asked to read five brief sub-scenarios regarding interactions between their hypothetical partner and his friend, and were instructed to rate how emotionally and sexually jealous they would feel in response to each sub-scenario on a Likert-type scale. In a vignette, the partner’s sexual orientation was either unspecified / presumed heterosexual or specified as bisexual, and their friend was either described as a man or a woman. The results indicate that heterosexual women experienced significantly higher emotional and sexual jealousy in vignettes where their partner’s friend was a woman, regardless of their partner’s sexual orientation, and experienced significantly higher emotional jealousy in vignettes in which their partner was bisexual, regardless of the gender of their partner’s friend. Overall, these findings allude to a potential causal mechanism behind heterosexual women’s negative attitudes toward dating and being intimate with bisexual men, as established by past research.
Advisor
Eric Sprankle
Committee Member
Angelica Aguirre
Committee Member
Maria Bevacqua
Date of Degree
2022
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Program of Study
Clinical Psychology
Department
Psychology
College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Glende, Madison M. (2022). Examining jealousy in mixed-orientation relationships: An experimental vignette study [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/1227/
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