Fueling the flames of the green‐eyed monster: The role of ruminative thought in reaction to romantic jealousy

Abstract

This study examines factors predicted to influence individuals’ responses to romantic jealousy. Participants completed scales measuring relationship‐specific linking (i.e., believing that a specific relationship is essential to one's happiness), relationship‐specific rumination, possessiveness, trust, and communicative responses to jealousy. Contrary to expectations, relationship‐specific linking and relationship‐specific rumination were not correlated. Relationship‐specific linking was weakly associated with possessiveness, compensatory restoration, negative affect expression, and violence toward objects, but not associated any of the other variables. As predicted, relationship‐specific rumination was negatively associated with trust, and positively associated with possessiveness, surveillance/restriction, manipulation, relationship threat, rival contact, compensatory restoration, negative affect expression, signs of possession, derogation of competitors, distributive communication, violent communication, violence toward objects, active distancing, and avoidance/denial. The hypothesis that relationship‐specific rumination associates with integrative communication was not supported. The findings suggest that jealous rumination is an important cognitive mechanism that motivates some individuals to enact counterproductive communicative responses to jealousy.