Coping abilities of high and low jealous individuals in a stressful situation

The major purpose of this study was to examine the coping abilities of high and low jealous individuals in a stressful laboratory situation involving self-dis­ closure. The hypothesis that high jealous individuals would not cope with the threat of self disclosure as well as low jealous individuals was not confirmed. Eighty college students were given a battery of personality questionnaires to complete which measured jealousy., anxiety, locus of control, self esteem, self preoccupation and social desirability. The correlations revealed certain differences in characteristics of high and low jealous subjects including the fact that high jealous subjects had a significantly lower self esteem than low jealous subjects. From the initial 80 subjects, 17 high jealous and 13 low jealous individuals participated in pretest and posttest phases of the experiment in which the subjects were asked to disclose information which they had designated as highly personal. Before the subjects dis­ closed themselves in the posttest, the experimenter discussed with each subject the use of the coping technique of reversal of affect for handling interpersonal stress. Results showed that both high jealous and low jealous subjects were less anxious at the posttest. Results are discussed in terms of the reversal of affect technique reducing anxiety and the differences between high and low jealous individuals