Search

Background: Jealousy in a romantic relationship contributes to other factors that could either sustain or destroy that relationship. There has been an increasing trend in the rate of broken relationships, marriage, and courtships, which is contrary to historical and cultural antecedents in a multicultural environment like Nigeria. This study was conducted with the aim to assess the patterns and demographic determinants of romantic jealousy among adults Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on a purposefully selected sample of 229 people aged 24 and 63 years living in Delta State, Nigeria. The participants responded to the Multidimensional (Romantic) Jealousy Scale (MJS) short form in February 2022. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the sociodemographic variables and inferential statistics (t-test for independent samples, and one-way ANOVA) were used to determine bivariate and multivariate associations. Results: Gender differences were observed in the prevalence of the various forms of romantic jealousy. The prevalence of cognitive romantic jealousy in men was 81.7% while it was 76.8% in women [t (227) = -2.14; P < 0.05)]. The prevalence emotional jealousy among men and women was, respectively, 79.8% and 82.4% [t (227) = -0.10, P > 0.05. Moreover, the prevalence of behavioural jealousy among men and women was, respectively, 87.5% and 88% [t (227) = - 2.94, P < 0.01]. Conclusion: This study demonstrated a high prevalence of romantic jealousy among adults in Delta state, Nigeria, with significant gender variation in the cognitive and behavioural domains. Further studies and larger cohorts are required to assess the impact of personality and culture on romantic jealousy.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is common, although prevalence and correlates amongst pregnant women in developing countries are poorly researched. Aim: To identify the magnitude of IPV, and its relationship with psychiatric morbidity and partner alcohol use. Setting: This study was conducted among women receiving routine ante-natal care at a secondary level healthcare facility in southern Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted by recruiting pregnant women (n = 395) attending the Ante-Natal Clinic of the Central Hospital, Benin-City, Edo State, Nigeria, between August 2015 and February 2016 and undertaking face-to-face interviews utilising a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Composite Abuse Scale and the 20-item Self-reporting Questionnaire. Results: Past 12-month prevalence of IPV was 24.8%, with emotional abuse being the commonest type (89.8%). Forty-six participants (11.6%) screened positive for probable psychiatric morbidity. Predictors of IPV included partner alcohol use in the past 12 months (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.67; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16–6.16; p 0.02), having a psychiatric morbidity (aOR: 2.53; 95% CI: 1.27–5.04; p 0.01), being single (aOR: 2.12; 95% CI: 1.25–3.58; p 0.01) and multiparous (aOR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.43–4.38; p 0.001). Conclusion: Intimate partner violence was common amongst pregnant women in Nigeria. Identified modifiable risk factors can be targets for screening and intervention for women in these settings.

Objective: Theories about how couples help each other to cope with stress, such as the systemic transactional model of dyadic coping, suggest that the cultural context in which couples live influences how their coping behavior affects their relationship satisfaction. In contrast to the theoretical assumptions, a recent meta-analysis provides evidence that neither culture, nor gender, influences the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, at least based on their samples of couples living in North America and West Europe. Thus, it is an open questions whether the theoretical assumptions of cultural influences are false or whether cultural influences on couple behavior just occur in cultures outside of the Western world. Method: In order to examine the cultural influence, using a sample of married individuals (N = 7,973) from 35 nations, we used multilevel modeling to test whether the positive association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies across nations and whether gender might moderate the association. Results: Results reveal that the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies between nations. In addition, results show that in some nations the association is higher for men and in other nations it is higher for women. Conclusions: Cultural and gender differences across the globe influence how couples’ coping behavior affects relationship outcomes. This crucial finding indicates that couple relationship education programs and interventions need to be culturally adapted, as skill trainings such as dyadic coping lead to differential effects on relationship satisfaction based on the culture in which couples live.