College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Graduation Date

11-2008

Document Type

Dissertation

Department/Program Conferring Degree

Psychology

Keywords

jealousy, relationships, LGBTQ, gender identity, attachment

Abstract

Powerful emotional responses and conflicts can arise between close friends when one of them begins to romantically see someone new. The addition of a third-party dating partner to an existing friendship is fraught with social consequences and complex negotiations of time (Larson & Richards, 1991; Roth & Parker, 2001). For example, availability for activities once shared by close friends now must be moderated by the amount of time needed to spend with the new partner. This can lead to strong, negative feelings as the friends struggle to make the adjustment and accommodate their friendship's changing status. The emotion of jealousy is focused on within this study. It is an emotion that is aroused when individuals feel threatened in a close relationship (Lazarus, 1991). Within this study, a pool of participants were equally divided among those who are male and female, and those who are straight and non-straight completed various questionnaires assessing their attachment style, feelings of jealousy aroused, the type of relationship they have with their best friend (cross-sex vs. same-sex), and their own relationship status (unattached/single vs. attached/in a relationship). The design of this will allow an exploration of how the combination of all these factors (gender, type of relationship, sexual orientation, attachment style, and relationship status) may influence emotions of jealousy.

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