Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Jealousy in College Student Relationships

1999; Project Innovation Austin; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

2691-3887

David Knox, Marty E. Zusman, Lashonda Mabon, Lisa Shriver,

Reproductive Health and Technologies

One hundred and eighty-five undergraduates at a large southeastern university completed a 9 item questionnaire designed to assess the presence, timing, and sources of jealousy in their respective relationships. Data revealed students experiencing jealousy at a level of five on a ten point continuum and significantly (p [is less than] .02) more often in shorter (twelve months or less) than longer (thirteen months or more) relationships. Implications for family life educators, university therapists, and college students are suggested. Then you will have to live elsewhere, said Meryl Streep (in her role as Karin) in the film Out of Africa to Robert Redford (in his role as Dennis) after he told her that he sometimes took other women with him when he went on safari. Her jealousy had reached the boiling point so that she was ready to terminate the relationship. Her jealous feelings are not uncommon. Pines and Aronson (1983) reported 54% of their respondents (age 21-64) considered themselves to be jealous people. When respondents were asked what percent of people in the general population were jealous, they estimated 75%. A nationwide survey of marriage therapists identified jealousy as a problem in one third of all the couples they encountered in therapy (Pines, 1992). Jealousy may be defined as an emotional reaction to a valued relationship that is being threatened. The jealous often feels excluded and left out (Pines and Friedman, 1998). Like Streep, people sometimes become protective of relationships that are important to them and develop feelings of jealousy when they fear being replaced. This study was designed to assess jealousy among a sample of college students. Data The data consisted of a 185 undergraduates at East California University who voluntarily completed a confidential questionnaire designed to assess the presence, timing, and sources of jealousy. Of the respondents, 64% were female and 36% were male. Seventy percent were first year students and sophomores; 30% were juniors and seniors. Ninety-one percent of the respondents were white; 9%, black. Findings Presence-On a continuum, of 0 (no jealousy) to 10 (extreme with 5 representing (average jealousy), these students reported feeling jealous at a mean level of 5.3 in their current or last relationship. Timing-Students who had been dating their a year or less were significantly (p [is less than] .02) more likely to report higher levels of jealousy (mean=4.7) than those who had dated 13 months or more (mean=3.3). Sources-The respondents identified actually talking to a previous partner (34%), about a previous partner (19%), and just being a jealous person (14%) as the most common sources of their jealousy feelings. Although not statistically significant, men were more likely to report feeling jealous when their talked to a previous partner. …