An Exploratory Study of Jealousy

The purpose of the researcher was to investigate jealousy in college students. The sample consisted of 79 females and 43 males for a total of 122. The independent variables were gender, age, living status, self-esteem family structure and dating age. The dependent variables were Minor Romantic, Major Romantic, Nonromantic and Total score from the Self-Report Jealousy Scale. Five null hypotheses were tested using a three-way analysis of variance. A total of 80 comparisons plus 60 recurring were made. Of the 80 comparisons made, 10 were statistically significant at the .05 level. Of the 10 significant comparisons 6 were from main effects and 4 were for interactions. The significant main effects were, age for the dependent variable Major Romantic, age for the dependent variable Total score, living status for the dependent variable Total score, living status for the dependent variable Major Romantic and age at which dating started for the dependent variable Major Romantic . The significant interactions were among self- esteem, gender and living status for the dependent variable Major Romantic, self-esteem, gender and living status for the dependent variable Total score, between age at which dating started and family structure for the dependent variable Major Romantic and between age at which dating started and family structure for the dependent variable Total score. The results of the present study appeared to support the following generalizations: 1. younger students reported greater jealousy than older students. 2. Female students reported greater jealousy than male students. 3. Single students reported greater jealousy than married students. 4. An association was found between self-esteem and jealousy. 5. An association was found between family structure and jealousy. 6. Married men with high self- esteem reported the lowest jealousy. 7. Single females with low self- esteem reported the greatest jealousy. 8. Students who began dating early and those who started dating late reported less jealousy. 9. Students from intact families reported less jealousy