Pattern and Demographic Determinants of Romantic Jealousy among Adults in Nigeria

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.