Abuse and love : the state of romantic relationships in western culture

The following studies investigate the self within mtimate relationships from the viewpoint of a theoretical framework which asserts that modern Western relationships are more stressed than they have been in the past or may be in other cultures. This stress is postulated to exist primarily because of the expectation in Western society that intimate relationships will be sustained by "passionate love". As well, broad cultural changes in social networks, work life and religious belief are reviewed. Study one looks at the relationship between emotional abusiveness and passionate love in undergraduates and also replicates the pattern of an abusive personality as identified in physically assaultive samples by Dutton and his colleagues (see Dutton, 1995). This pattern is replicated in both males and females; however, results suggest that the only aspect of emotional abusiveness which correlates with passionate love is jealousy, and only in men. Nonetheless, rates of love were similar in both high and low abuse groups. Study two uses a multidimensional jealousy scale to investigate sex differences found in study one and to clarify the relationship between different forms of jealousy and more or less adaptive relationship behaviour. Study two also attempts to operationalize and test some of the sociocultural theory regarding what relates to relationship stress. Specifically, the relationship between borderline personality organization (BPO), a central feature of both abusiveness and Cushman's (1990) theory of the self in our culture, and social network is assessed. Results suggest that there are different types of jealousy which are differentially correlated with abusiveness and the abusive personality. Results also show that in men closer relationships with mother, partner, work, and second-best friend are associated with less BPO and identity diffusion. However, this relationship was not strong in women. Other sex differences were also detected; potential reasons are discussed.Arts, Faculty ofPsychology, Department ofGraduat