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Sex differences in reactions to partner infidelity have often been studied by comparing emotional reactions to scenarios of sexual versus emotional infidelity. Men, relative to women, tend to react with more distress to partner sexual infidelity than to emotional infidelity. Evolutionary theorists interpret this difference as evidence of sexually dimorphic selection pressures. In contrast, focusing only on the simple effects within each sex, social-cognitive theorists suggest that men and women do not differ in their reactions to partner infidelity. As evidenced by recent rival meta-analytic reports, these diverging perspectives remain largely unresolved and contentious. The present study was designed to take a new approach by measuring attitudes toward partner infidelity. Results were consistent with the evolutionary perspective: Men, to a significantly larger degree than women, evaluated partner sexual infidelity more negatively than emotional infidelity.

According to the theory of evolved sex differences in jealousy, the challenge for women to ensure paternal investment increased their jealousy response to emotional infidelity, whereas paternal uncertainty exerted selective pressures that shaped men to become more distressed by sexual infidelity. Several studies have investigated whether the effect of these sexually dimorphic selection pressures can be detected in contemporary human populations, with conflicting results. To date, no genetically informed studies of sex differences in jealousy have been conducted. We used data from the Screening Across the Lifespan of Twins Younger (SALTY) sample, containing information concerning self-rated jealousy from 3,197 complete twin pairs collected by the Swedish Twin Registry. Intra-class correlations and structural equation models were used to assess the genetic influence on jealousy and to investigate sex differences at genetic level. We saw a highly significant sex effect on the relationship between infidelity types, indicating that men, relative to women, reported greater jealousy in response to sexual infidelity than in response to emotional infidelity. The twin models revealed significant heritabilities for both sexual (32%) and emotional (26%) jealousy. The heritabilities were of a similar magnitude in both sexes, and no qualitative sex differences could be detected. We show for the first time that variance in jealousy is to some extent explained by genetic factors. Even though our results from the mean value analyses are in line with the theory of evolved sex differences in jealousy, we could not identify any sex differences on a genetic level.

Background In today's technological development, internet and electronics has fueled the online and offline infidelity. This study has experiences of 700 participant's who shared there life experiences and attitude. Infidelity research analysis was done and sexual, emotional components were studied. Emotional infidelity consists of involving with someone other than partner that may be in the form of feeling, thought or in the form of physical exploration in internet chatting. Sexual infidelity is perceived as an act of betrayal that is as fruitful and satisfactory as in real life.

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Evolution and Human Behavior. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2008 Elsevier B.V. Three studies tested the hypothesis derived from evolutionary psychological considerations of sex differences in the intentional object of romantic jealousy. In Studies 1 and 3, participants had to indicate in a forced choice whether their jealousy would be primarily directed towards the partner or the rival. In Study 2, participants rated separately the extent to which their jealousy would be primarily aimed at the partner and the rival. In Studies 1 and 2, the participants' answers referred to either a mate's actual emotional or sexual infidelity; in Study 3 they referred to suspected infidelity. As predicted, in each study, significantly more women than men reported that their jealousy would be primarily directed at the rival. Also, as predicted, these sex differences were especially pronounced when confronted with the adaptively primary infidelity type (i. e., male emotional and female sexual infidelity, respectively). Finally, Study 3 additionally showed that these sex differences are moderated by the participants' current relationship status and their own unfaithfulness. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Despite the importance of extrapair copulation (EPC) in human evolution, almost nothing is known about the design features of EPC detection mechanisms. We tested for sex differences in EPC inference-making mechanisms in a sample of 203 young couples. Men made more accurate inferences (φmen = 0.66, φwomen = 0.46), and the ratio of positive errors to negative errors was higher for men than for women (1.22 vs. 0.18). Since some may have been reluctant to admit EPC behavior, we modeled how underreporting could have influenced these results. These analyses indicated that it would take highly sex-differentiated levels of underreporting by subjects with trusting partners for there to be no real sex difference. Further analyses indicated that men may be less willing to harbor unresolved suspicions about their partners' EPC behavior, which may explain the sex difference in accuracy. Finally, we estimated that women underreported their own EPC behavior (10%) more than men (0%).

In a classic study, Buss, Larson, Westen, and Semmelroth reported that men were more distressed by the thought of a partner's sexual infidelity (sexual jealousy) and women were more distressed by the thought of a partner's emotional infidelity (emotional jealousy). Initially, Buss and his associates explained these results by suggesting that men are concerned about uncertainty of paternity, that is, the possibility of raising another man's child while believing the child is their own. However, later they explained the results in terms of men's preference for short-term sexual strategies. The purpose of this research was to test the explanation of short-term sexual strategies. Men and women subjects were instructed to imagine themselves in a relationship which was either short-term (primarily sexual) or long-term (involving commitment) and then respond to Buss's jealousy items. It was hypothesized that, when both men and women imagined a short-term relationship, they would be more threatened by a partner's sexual infidelity, and, when they imagined a long-term relationship, they would be more threatened by a partner's emotional infidelity. Support was found for this hypothesis.

This article considers the deviant behavior of Internet infidelity. Although a plethora of research has been conducted on offline infidelity and jealousy, to date, there has been very little written about Internet infidelity and jealousy associated with cyber-relationships. Given the potential problems that online infidelity might bring to a relationship, this area of research warrants some attention. This study drew from Kitzinger and Powell's (1995) story completion method to explore men's and women's understandings of Internet infidelity. Two hundred thirty-four participants wrote a story to a cue relating to Internet infidelity. Although not all participants saw this as a real act of betrayal the majority did see this as not only real infidelity but as also having as serious an impact on the couple as a traditional offline affair. The most important finding here was that emotional infidelity was given as much attention as sexual infidelitywas. Moreover, similar gender differences found in studies on offline infidelity emerged in this research. These results present a way forward in our thinking about cyberaffairs.

Research has suggested that men are especially bothered by evidence of their partner's sexual infidelity, whereas women are troubled more by evidence of emotional infidelity One evolutionary account (Buss, Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth, 1992) argues that this is an innate difference, arising from men's need for paternity certainty and women's need for male investment in their offspring We suggest that the difference may instead be based on reasonable differences between the sexes in how they interpret evidence of infidelity A man, thinking that women have sex only when in love, has reason to believe that if his mate has sex with another man, she is in love with that other A woman, thinking that men can have sex without love, should still be bothered by sexual infidelity, but less so because it does not imply that her mate has fallen in love as well A survey of 137 subjects confirmed that men and women do differ in the predicted direction in how much they think each form of infidelity implies the other, proposing innate emotional differences may, therefore, be gratuitous

In a classic 1992 study, Buss, Larson, Westen, and Semmelroth reported that men were more distressed by the sexual infidelity of a partner and women were more distressed by a partner's emotional infidelity. Buss, et al. suggested that men are concerned about uncertainty of paternity, that is, the possibility of raising another man's child while believing that the child is his own. However, data can be explained in terms of men's greater preference for short-term sexual strategies. This research yielded support for the latter explanation for the samples in this present research.

This study tested the prediction derived from the evolutionary psychological analysis of jealousy that men and women selecting the adaptively primary infidelity type (i.e., female sexual and male emotional infidelity, respectively) in a forced-choice response format need to engage in less elaborate decision strategies than men and women selecting the adaptively secondary infidelity type (i.e., male sexual and female emotional infidelity, respectively). Unknown to the participants, decision times were registered as an index of the elaborateness of their decision strategies. The results clearly support the prediction. Implications and limitations of the present findings are discussed.

As predicted by models derived from evolutionary psychology, men within the United States have been shown to exhibit greater psychological and physiological distress to sexual than to emotional infidelity of their partner, and women have been shown to exhibit more distress to emotional than to sexual infidelity Because cross-cultural tests are critical for evolutionary hypotheses, we examined these sex differences in three parallel studies conducted in the Netherlands (N = 207), Germany (N = 200), and the United States (N = 224) Two key findings emerged First, the sex differences in sexual jealousy are robust across these cultures, providing support for the evolutionary psychological model Second, the magnitude of the sex differences varies somewhat across cultures—large for the United States, medium for Germany and the Netherlands Discussion focuses on the evolutionary psychology of jealousy and on the sensitivity of sex differences in the sexual sphere to cultural input

The present study investigates the hitherto neglected influence of the spatial distance between the jealous person, the partner, and a potential rival as a proximate contextual factor regulating emotion intensity. The study tested four predictions. (1) The jealousy mechanism responds with mild negative feelings at most as long as the partner is close to the jealous person. (2) The negative feelings increase when the partner is far from the jealous person but the rival is close. (3) The most uncomfortable feelings result when the partner and the rival are close together and both far from the jealous person. (4) Based on the evolutionary psychological considerations, men report stronger negative feelings than women when suspecting sexual infidelity. Conversely, women report stronger negative feelings than men when suspecting emotional infidelity. The results confirmed predictions 1 and 4. Reversing predictions 2 and 3, the close rival consistently elicited the most uncomfortable feelings. Implications and limitations of the present study are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

This present study explores the differences between women's and men's responses to (hypothetical) infidelity, and how these responses are influenced by the characteristics of the couple's relationship. 372 subjects completed questionnaires (a) itemising their jealous reaction to a partner´s hypothetical infidelity (emotional or sexual); and (b) the state of their relationship. A survey of 250 women and 122 men revealed that the women reported higher intensity of emotional distress than the men. in regard to both emotional and sexual infidelity. There were no significant differences between men and women in their reports of which infidelity troubled them more: both genders are troubled more by emotional infidelity. We also report the influence that the type of relationship has on the emotions provoked by the infidelity.

Karasz A, Anderson M. The vaginitis monologues: women’s experiences of vaginal complaints in a primary care setting. Soc Sci Med 2003;56:1013–21. [OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3][Web of Science][4] Q How do women interpret vaginal sensations as symptoms and construct these symptoms as problems requiring medical care? Qualitative study. A family health centre serving a multi-ethnic, working class population in New York City, USA. 44 women >18 years of age who were diagnosed with vaginitis (ICD-9 code 616.10) in the previous 4 months. Women participated in semistructured telephone interviews of 30–45 minutes, during which interviewers took indepth notes. Data collection and analysis were based on an iterative process. Women were asked to generate illness narratives of symptom and treatment experiences. The semistructured component of the interview was based on the Illness Representation Model. Most women had some combination of itching, discharge, and odour. Conceptions of [a] normal [vagina]. Women judged normality based on characteristics of vaginal discharge (eg, quantity, colour, odour, consistency, and timing in relation to the menstrual cycle). Although most felt that some discharge was normal, … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DSocial%2Bscience%2B%2526%2Bmedicine%26rft.stitle%253DSoc%2BSci%2BMed%26rft.aulast%253DKarasz%26rft.auinit1%253DA.%26rft.volume%253D56%26rft.issue%253D5%26rft.spage%253D1013%26rft.epage%253D1021%26rft.atitle%253DThe%2Bvaginitis%2Bmonologues%253A%2Bwomen%2527s%2Bexperiences%2Bof%2Bvaginal%2Bcomplaints%2Bin%2Ba%2Bprimary%2Bcare%2Bsetting.%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1016%252FS0277-9536%252802%252900092-8%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F12593874%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00092-8&link_type=DOI [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=12593874&link_type=MED&atom=%2Febnurs%2F7%2F1%2F30.atom [4]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=000181212000010&link_type=ISI

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia, The main aim of the present study is to relate, for the first time, the sexual and emotional sides of infidelity, that is characterized by any form of close physical or emotional involvement with another person while in a committed relationship (Brand et al., 2007) with promiscuity, which is typically defined by the search for the maximum sexual pleasure (Markey & Markey, 2007) or how easily and often someone falls in love (Jones, 2011). We also aim to investigate potential sex differences within both domains. Our research comprehends two studies: Study 1 served as base to Study 2, where 74 participants (30 males and 44 females) were asked to give examples of sexual and emotional infidelity, in order to develop a scale to assess infidelity in both domains. Study 2 gathered 369 participants (92 males and 277 females) to answer to an online questionnaire that collected information about infidelity and promiscuity, in addition to some sociodemographic questions. Results show that all domains are related, specifically sexual and emotional infidelity with sexual and emotional promiscuity., O principal objetivo do estudo presente é relacionar, pela primeira vez, as vertentes sexual e emocional da infidelidade, que é caracterizada por qualquer forma de contato físico ou envolvimento emocional com outra pessoa enquanto se está num relacionamento (Brand, Markey, Mills & Hodges, 2007) com a promiscuidade, que é tipicamente definida pela máxima procura de prazer sexual (Markey & Markey, 2007) ou quão facilmente e frequente um indivíduo se apaixona (Jones, 2011). Um outro objetivo é investigar potenciais diferenças entre sexos dentro dos dois domínios. A pesquisa compreende dois estudos: o estudo 1 serviu como base para o estudo 2, onde a 74 participantes (30 homens e 44 mulheres) foi pedido que dessem exemplos de infidelidade emocional e sexual, com o objetivo de desenvolver uma escala que avalie a infidelidade nos seus dois domínios. O estudo 2 juntou 369 participantes (92 homens e 277 mulheres) para responderem a um questionário online que recolheu informações sobre infidelidade e promiscuidade, juntamente com informações sociodemográficas. Os resultados demonstraram que todas as componentes se encontram relacionadas, mais especificamente a infidelidade sexual e emocional com a promiscuidade sexual e emocional.