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Does romantic jealousy act as a selffulfilling prophecy of infidelity to love?

Many researchers have studied the factors that can contribute to a loving relationship remaining stable and being of good quality for both partners. Two of the most worrying concerns that people have with regard to love relationships are jealousy and infidelity. The purpose of this study was to verify whether there is relationship between these two phenomena. Participants in this study were 45 heterosexual couples, with an average age of 24.6 years, recruited through an ad placed on the site of a public university located in the city of São Paulo. To assess the degrees of the participants' jealousy, the "Romantic Jealousy Scale" was used. To evaluate the participants' infidelity, the "Inventory of Infidelity-Related Behaviors", created specifically for this work was used. The results indicated that: (1) even in a low degree, jealousy is an agent of selffulfilling prophecy for infidelity (r=0.25, 90df, p<0.05) and (2) there is an association between the infidelity of each partner and the infidelity of the other partner (r=0.36, 45df, p<0.05). These results, therefore, indicated that there is a direct relationship between the jealousy and infidelity.

Love; Jealousy; Extramarital Intercourse; Male famale relationship


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