Sex Differences in Jealousy

Sex Differences in Jealousy

Jealousy is a reaction experienced in all relationships, whether between family members, mutual friends or couples.

Jealousy varies in intensity between relationships, depending on the strength of the bond between the people in the relationship, and their emotional attachment (Mayeux, 2011).

Over 80% of relationships with jealousy, both parties exhibit signs of jealousy.

Physiological differences between males and females determine their reaction when jealous.

The jealousy levels vary depending on psychological orientation of males and females, with more women exhibiting jealousy reactions than males (Richo, 2010).

The males exhibit sexual attachment while the females exhibit emotional attachment in the relationship (Buss, Larsen, Westen&Semmelroth, 1992).

All relationships with close emotional and intimacy attachment suffer a good degree of jealousy.

Jealousy can have negative effects, as well as, a positive result on the relationship.

3. Discussion of the research results

i. 53.5207% of the men in relationships experience jealousy.

ii. 57.9752% of the females experience jealousy in their relationships against their partners.

iii. The reaction from both sexes varies depending on the level of attachment in the relationships (Richo, 2010).

4. Conclusion

i. More women experience jealousy than males in the relationship.

ii.The level of jealous reaction varies depend on the type and closeness of attachment between the partners.

Introduction

In species that have internal fertilization and gestation, which constitute of over 4,000 animals, including humans, the males always face an adaptive issue that the females never experience. This challenge is on the issue of paternity of the offspring. This challenge compromises the relations between the male and female due to the losses incurred in the realization of infidelity happening. However, the females also face uncertainty in view that, the male they are in relationship with, may invest in another female, channeling his efforts to them. Thus, in both sexes, there arises the feeling of jealousy, which is a state of emotional arousal from perceived threat to the relationship and motivating counter action to the threat (Southard, 2010). The level and jealousy type depends on the value of the relationship. Jealousy involves psychological reactions that occur from the perceived threat. Additionally, the reactions of males and females vary from the factors that activate jealousy, from physical to psychological build of the two sexes.

Hypothesis

Jealousy is a psychologically affecting issue that translates into various reactions. The current nature of the society is not helping either as social stratification is making it harder for the genders to relate without perceived emotional or intimate interests in each other (Richo, 2010). In view of the aspects of jealousy featuring in the relationships across the globe, it leads to two key hypotheses that this study seeks to establish.

Hypothesis 1: the first postulate is that there is a direct positive relation between anxious attachment and the strength of the emotional reaction. This hypothesis seeks to establish that people who have emotional issues such as feelings of dejection, upset and fear will score higher on the jealousy Bringle scale.

Hypothesis 2: the second assumption that this study seeks to establish is that women will score higher on the scale of jealousy as compared to males. This has limitation from the data findings. However, it will draw points from background information, as well as, the comparison of the figures in the data collected. It features the aspects of relations between emotional and sexual infidelity within the relationship, as well as, the level and type of attachment for both sexes.

Background information

Various studies indicate that men worry more about their paternal authenticity whereas women worry more about securing a genuinely loyal father to their children. In the subject of jealousy, there are two forms of jealousy identified and evaluated pertaining the two sexes. These are the sexual jealousy, and emotional jealousy (Mayeux, 2011). Additional evolutionary experiences and evidence indicate the existence of evolving structures concerning the two jealousy occurrences. The resultant findings of initial writings and studies indicate that women depict varied reactions in view of the two types of jealousy. Women worry more over the presence of emotional infidelity in their relationships than sexual infidelity. On the contrary, the resulting findings on the males indicate that men dislike and express adverse reactions towards sexual infidelity than emotional infidelity (Buss, Larsen, Westen & Semmelroth, 1992). Emotion in a relationship entails the conceptual feeling that is natural resulting from perceived or actual involvement of a partner in a close relationship to another outside the relationship.

To understand the nature of the hypothesis concerning jealousy among the sexes, it is essential to evaluate the closeness in the relationship. In definition, the closeness between partners in a relationship is the degree of interdependence between the partners themselves. This interdependence is from the extent to which the behavior and beliefs of one of the partners may cause changes to the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of the dependent person. The interdependence could also be mutual, influencing both partners in the relationship (Rydell, McConnellA & Bringle, 2004). The definition of closeness indicates four features that will determine the form and intensity of jealousy the sexes will exhibit. These are the strength, frequency, diversity and duration of contact of the relationship. These features determine the sacrifices that the partners put in establishing the relationship and the investment of time, emotions and resources among others. Thus, the interdependence within the relationship closeness models the conceptual basis for predicting the individual who is most likely to be more jealous. In this view, it is clear that an individual will not experience jealousy since they do not have an exclusive mutual benefit from the relationship. The individual who has nothing of significance in the relationship will not experience jealousy in case of a threat to the relationship as the other individual. This dynamic factor is especially true for the cases of emotional jealousy in the relationship (Kennair, Nordeide, Andreassen, Stronen & Pallesen, 2011). Initially, from the findings of other researches, it indicates that women experience emotional jealousy due to the attachment they have towards the male. Therefore, in view of the closeness between the partners in the relationship, the female gender has a higher likelihood of attachment within the relationship emotionally than the male sex. Therefore, this perspective brings the finding that, from the closeness of the relationship, it is true that the female sex will experience higher anxiety in view of the emotional jealousy within the relationship.

Additionally, the females also have a physical attachment towards the males. This indicates that the females will certainly experience the sexual jealousy in the perception that there is a threat to the relationship from another mate (Richo, 2010). Thus, it is evident that the females will experience higher levels of jealousy since they will exhibit the emotional jealousy, in addition to sexual jealousy. The males, on the contrary, exhibit sexual attachment towards their partners since they have physiological aspects better developed than psychological attachment. The physiology of men is such that they react more towards physical threats than emotional threats. Therefore, from this establishment, the males will exhibit higher levels of jealousy in the perception of a physical threat of infidelity involving their partners sexually. Thus, males are less likely to exhibit jealousy as their reactions is from the threats they perceive to threaten their sexual territories. Therefore, literature indicates that the female sex demonstrates higher levels of jealousy than the males.

Jealousy stems from various threats, which may be imaginary or real. The effects are equally dynamic as this can be a positive factor to the relationship, or a bad factor. In the perception of jealousy as a bad factor, this determines the negative reaction that the individual will depict. In the view of the negative features of jealousy, factors and findings such as feelings of madness, hurt, threat and bad thoughts, among other stereotype views feature. Additionally, the review of other relationships indicates that, jealousy is a distractive emotion that affects those who have close intimate relations as compared to those who do not have the exclusive closeness within the relationship. In cases where the relationship features extreme emotional attachments that seem to be obsessive in nature, the jealousy in such relations is negative. It is destructive, affecting the relations in a devastating manner as compared to those relationships with less extreme attachment. Additionally, in perception of jealousy among the sexes, other factors determine the level of experience among the sexes in the relationship. These factors include the self-esteem and self-confidence of the individuals. People who have low self-esteem and inadequate confidence within themselves as persons, they will exhibit general high anxiety within the relationship, thus suffering bad jealousy. Additionally, people who have features that characterize low trust and empathy for others, loneliness and depression, neuroticism and hostility are more likely to experience jealousy within the relationship. These features show evidence that the relationships with less closeness among themselves also exhibit threat of jealousy. Thus, the negative factors in jealousy feature in relationships with esteem closeness in the relationship, as well as, those with limited closeness; due to bad individual features such as those of low self-esteem among others mentioned within this text.

Despite the negative factor in jealousy overshadowing most relations, there are positive aspects of jealousy as scholars indicate. The various types of jealousy, in addition to the reactions among the sexes, may assist in establishing the relationship positively. In this perspective, jealousy directly relates to the strength and closeness of the partners. This approach to jealousy indicates that romantic jealousy will stimulate the parties in relationship to act towards the perceived threat to rid the danger of losing the relationship. This causes the partner to employ tactics that may strengthen the sexual and emotional attachment in the relationship (Kennair, Nordeide, Andreassen, Stronen & Pallesen, 2011). Therefore, in this perspective, jealousy and strength of attachment have a direct relationship, with the level of attachment determining the jealousy reaction that the partners exhibit, whether male or female. The aspects of sexual infidelity come from perceived threats of mate poaching, factors that the partners in the relationship can solve depending on the strength of their bond. Thus, this approach presents jealousy as a factor in relationships with strong closeness and an enhancing factor to the growth of the relationship.

Thus, it counters the reacting characteristics exhibited in bad jealousy, such as those of feelings of being mad, threatened, dejected, and cheated among other feelings resulting from perceived threat to the relationship infidelity. Additionally, jealousy is an adaptive feature for those who perceive the threat to be superior and having more potential than they do (Green & Sabini, 2006). To such people, jealousy initiates behavior self-supporting measures within the relationships, strengthening the relationship. Nonetheless, the positive reception of jealousy does not indicate that the intensity of jealousy among the sexes as equal. The relative strength of attachment of either partner will determine the level of jealousy that the partners exhibit. Additionally, factors of anxiety and self-esteem, as well as, behavior of avoidance towards the threat will determine the reaction level. Thus, jealousy level depends on the closeness and attachment among the partners in the relationship as this literature indicates.

Methodology

Data sources

A convenience sample of the students set out to establish the differences in sex jealousy among the partners. We also sought information to establish the reactions that partners in the relationship exhibit towards perceived or real threat to their relationship. The study though did not feature extensively, on the aspect of establishing the relation between the closeness of partners and their levels of exhibiting jealousy. However, the data still presents information that encompasses all aspects of the hypothesis set. The data sources features varied sources. The first source is the literature review. This source assisted in establishing the initial hypothesis and guiding the research process. The articles on the perceived threats among other subjects concerning the subject proved useful information for the study. Secondly, the key data source was from the interviews and questionnaires administered that featured people within relationships. The study included people who are in relationships, majoring in the ages between 18 to 68 years. The data group also featured people from different races, creating variables for correlations data for the study. Thus, the field of study featured diverse groups and personalities related to the topic in question. Additionally, the contribution of expert opinions on the subject was remarkably helpful. Such professionals in the subject include psychologists who understand the emotional makeup of the different sexes, as well as, relationship experts and advisors. The sampled population in the study provided correlation data for comparisons and other analyses to establish the hypothesis.

Methods of collecting data

The procedures of collecting data employed in this study include the following. They are interviews, observations, literature review and administering questionnaires. The literature review consisted of various articles and writings from initial studies that provided useful information relating to the subject. The review provided information for the background section, as well as, useful data for conducting the study. The second method was use of interviews, in which we used interview questions designed for each of the groups in the study. The interviews worked successful, despite the usual limitations associated with the use of interviews, such as lying interviewees. The third method of gathering information applied is the use of questionnaires. We administered questionnaires with relevant questions to the topic. Additionally, the questionnaires consisted of both closed ended and open-ended questions, which the respondents filled providing the relational data for the study. However, the closed ended questions proved useful as they restricted the study to the hypothesis formulated on the subject. The use of observation was overall in all the methods of gathering data. The observations featured characteristic such as behavioral aspects of the people close to us in real life who are within the scope of the study data. These methods of data collection assisted in establishing and concluding the study.

Results