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In contrast to viewing jealousy as a unitary construct, this research differentiates jealousy into reactive (emotional components of jealousy) and suspicious jealousy (cognitive and behavioral components of jealousy), for which manifestations and antecedents differ. Besides finding that reactive and suspicious jealousy could be delineated, the results of two studies found evidence for discriminant validity and that greater reactive jealousy was related to greater relationship dependency, greater trust, and lower chronic jealousy. Persons who displayed more suspicious jealousy had greater insecurity, greater anxious attachment, greater avoidant attachment, greater chronic jealousy, and lower self-esteem. This research is consistent with a transactional model of jealousy.
Keywords: jealousy, reactive, suspicious, transactional model.
Most theorists agree that jealousy is not a primary emotion (Hupka, 1984) and, instead, typically focus on the characteristics of the situation, the person, and the relationship that cause emotional responses (Bringle & Buunk, 1985). However, both conceptual analyses and operationalizations of jealousy provide examples of jealousy being regarded with single and multiple antecedents as well as single and multiple manifestations (see Bringle, 1991).
Focusing on antecedents of jealousy, White and Mullen (1989) define jealousy as resulting from two types of causes, "real or potential rival relationships" (p. 56), which influence two mediating variables: threat to an existing relationship or threat to the self. Bringle and Buunk (1985) view jealousy as resulting from an extradyadic relationship that can occur in three ways: real, imagined, or considered likely to occur. When considering manifestations of jealousy, there is also variability in views. Bringle and Buunk posit only one manifestation as being necessary and sufficient for defining jealousy: any adverse emotional reaction. Buunk (1991, 1997), Pfeiffer and Wong (1989), and White and Mullen (1989) identify three manifestations of jealousy: emotional, behavioral, and cognitive reactions.
SUSPICIOUS AND REACTIVE JEALOUSY
Is jealousy a single construct or is it better understood as multiple, though related, constructs with different antecedents and manifestations? Treating jealousy as a single construct may mean neglecting to consider how delineating types of jealousy can increase understanding of this complex phenomenon, provide different predictions for multiple types of jealousy, and extend die empirical analysis of jealousy. However, identifying more than two types of jealousy may unnecessarily differentiate highly interrelated types of jealousy that have the same underlying causes, making...