Jealousy and Domestic Violence: An Exploration of Individual Differences

The present study examined whether the intrapersonal variables of attachment style and sex roles would moderate the association between jealousy and domestic violence. We predicted that the association between jealousy and domestic violence would be positive for individuals with insecure attachment styles (i.e., high on anxiety, high on avoidance) and negative for those with a secure style. We also predicted that men who scored high on instrumentality would be more prone to domestic violence than those who scored high on androgyny and expressivity. The only criterion for study participation was that individuals be involved in a romantic relationship. Participants were recruited using a university participant management system (SONA), social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) and Craigslist. org (volunteer sections). The survey, which as hosted on Qualtrics.com, consisted of demographic questions, the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale-Short Form (Wei, Russel, Mallinckrodt, & Vogel, 2007), the BEM Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974), and the Conflict Tactics Scale Short Form (CTS2S) (Straus, 2004). We found a positive association between jealousy and domestic violence for those with insecure attachment styles. In terms of sex roles however, both instrumentality and androgyny were associated with some degree of domestic violence among men. In terms of study limitations, we relied on self-report survey data and socially desirable response bias may have influenced our results, particularly because domestic violence is a stigmatized topic. However, a study strength is that our sample was ethnically diverse (a majority were Latino American), which extends work in this area