Partner's Sexual Infidelity Research Articles

Dangerous Intersection of Alcoholism and Othello Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of Delusional Jealousy and Treatment Strategies.

The modern pace of life, increased susceptibility to stressors, and easy access to psychoactive substances have contributed to the increase in the number of people addicted to alcohol. Alcoholism has serious and life-threatening consequences, one of which is brain damage causing morbid jealousy, otherwise known as Othello syndrome. The disease, currently classified as a subtype of delusional disorder, manifests itself in groundless and dangerous judgments about a partner's sexual infidelity. People with Othello syndrome constantly believe in their partner's infidelity despite inadequate evidence of it. Patients become aggressive toward their partners as well as themselves, which is why in a fit of anger they can commit murder or suicide. Othello syndrome can occur as a symptom of an underlying mental illness, but it is most often associated with brain damage caused by chronic alcohol use. Antipsychotic drugs and serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used in pharmacotherapy. Targeted treatment using the neuropeptide oxytocin, which modulates the transmitter systems responsible for disease symptoms, is also being considered. The use of oxytocin seems groundbreaking, but it remains at the research stage. The treatment of addictions and primary diseases, as well as long-term cognitive-analytic psychotherapy, also have a huge impact. Othello syndrome is a life-threatening disease with an insidious course and serious consequences. This article aims to review the manifestations of morbid jealousy, including delusional disorder, and the association with alcoholism.

Relationship status and gender-related differences in response to infidelity.

The sexual imagination hypothesis suggests that responses to a partner's infidelity emerge from the sociocultural factors that affect individuals' imagining of that occurrence irrespective of biological sex, including relationship status (i.e., the experience of a serious, committed relationship). Nevertheless, evolutionary psychological perspectives predict that responses to a partner's infidelity emerge from a sex-specific evolved innate mechanism. A lower 2D:4D digit ratio is associated with more robust responses to a partner's sexual infidelity. In this study, participants (660 males and 912 females) were requested to measure finger lengths, reactions to their partners' sexual and emotional infidelity, and relationship status. A logistic regression and multiple regression analyses revealed that relationship status was uniquely associated with responses to a partner's sexual and emotional infidelity beyond the effects of sex and 2D:4D. Those in committed relationships were more upset or distressed over their partners' infidelity, particularly over sexual infidelity, than those not in committed relationships. The results supported the sexual imagination hypothesis indirectly, while evolutionary psychological perspectives were met with skepticism. Our findings implied that sex differences in jealousy result from relationship status, and that responses to partners' infidelity are more alike than different.

Sperm Competition Risk: The Connections That Partner Attractiveness and Infidelity Risk Have with Mate Retention Behaviors and Semen-Displacing Behaviors.

The present studies investigated the relationships between men's perceived risk of experiencing sperm competition (i.e., when the ejaculates of two or more men simultaneously occupy the reproductive tract of a single woman), and their use of strategies to detect, prevent, and correct their partner's sexual infidelity. We investigated these associations using self-reports provided by men (Study 1, n = 113), partner-reports provided by women (Study 2, n = 136), and dyadic reports (Study 3, n = 103 couples). The results of these studies indicated that the attractiveness of women was consistently associated with men's use of benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors (e.g., buying expensive gifts for one's partner, showing signs of physical affection) and semen-displacing behaviors (e.g., deeper copulatory thrusting, more thrusts during copulation), whereas the infidelity risk of women was often associated with men's use of cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors (e.g., threatening to end the relationship, monopolization of partner's free time). Discussion addresses the evolutionary implications of these results, including the possibility that men use both benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors and semen-displacing behaviors when they perceive their partner to be more attractive, ostensibly as a way to mitigate their risk of sperm competition. Discussion also explores the extent to which these results extend those of previous studies concerning sperm competition risk.

Individual differences in men's use of partner-directed insults and sexual coercion: Replication and extension in a South American sample

Previous research with North American samples indicates that men who more frequently insult their intimate partners are also more likely to coerce them sexually. We investigated the cross-cultural generality of associations between men's use of partner-directed insults and sexual coercion in Brazil, a South American country with rates of domestic violence and homicide higher than in North America, by adapting the Partner-Directed Insults Scale (PDIS) for Portuguese-speakers. Participants were 177 Brazilians (Mage = 23.6 years; 59.9% female) in an intimate relationship lasting an average of 39.4 months (SD = 40.4). Participants completed the PDIS, which assesses men's use of partner-directed insults, and the Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationships Scale (SCIRS), which assesses men's use of sexual coercion against their partners. In line with previous research with North American samples, Brazilian men's use of partner-directed insults predicted their use of sexual coercion against their partners, indicating some cross-cultural generality in this pattern of findings. For example, men's accusations of a partner's sexual infidelity were associated with men's sexually coercive resource manipulation and defection threat. We addressed several limitations of the current research and highlighted the value of cross-cultural replications investigating men's partner-directed insults and sexual coercion in intimate relationships.

Men’s perceived partner commitment and mate guarding: The moderating role of partner’s hormonal contraceptive use.

Male jealousy is an adaptive interpersonal process that functions to maintain relationships by reducing the likelihood of partner sexual infidelity. Ancestral men would have been most reproductively successful to the extent that they responded to signs of low partner commitment with increased jealou

The cost of forgiveness: Observers prefer victims who leave unfaithful romantic partners

AbstractNinety‐six male fraternity members (Study 1), 112 female voters (Study 2), and 219 undergraduates (Study 3) read scenarios in which a group representative forgave, retaliated, or left a romantic partner after the partner's sexual infidelity was publically revealed. Observers rated a victim who forgave his or her partner to be as mature as a victim who ended the relationship, but also as weaker and less competent. They rated a victim who forgave to be more mature but almost as weak and incompetent as a victim who retaliated. Symbolic concerns that the victim's behavior violated shared values (all three studies) or damaged the group's power/status (Study 3) mediated the relationship between victim behavior and victim ratings. These data demonstrate how the symbolic concerns that shape observers' judgments of an offender can extend to observers' judgments of the victim. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sex Differences in Attitudes toward Partner Infidelity

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.

Attachment Style and Gender as Predictors of Communicative Responses to Infidelity

This study set out to determine one's communicative responses to infidelity as predicted by attachment style and gender. Three hundred ninety-two participants responded to a measure of attachment and were then randomly assigned to one of three scenarios: imagining a partner's sexual infidelity, imagining a partner's emotional infidelity, and imagining a partner's combined sexual and emotional infidelity. Participants then responded to a communicative response scale in reaction to the scenario. Results showed moderate support for attachment theory and provided support for predicted gender differences. Additional analysis revealed responses differed by whether or not the participant's partner had been unfaithful. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Coercive Forms of Sexual Risk and Associated Violence Perpetrated by Male Partners of Female Adolescents

Partner violence is associated with STDs among female adolescents, but the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Sexually coercive and deceptive behaviors of male partners that increase female STD risk may be factors in this relationship. A sample of 356 females aged 14-20 who attended adolescent health clinics in Greater Boston between April and December 2006 were assessed for physical and sexual violence perpetrated by male partners and for exposure to sexual risk factors. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between intimate partner violence and standard sexual risk behaviors (e.g., multiple partnerships) and coercive or deceptive sexual risk factors (e.g., coerced condom nonuse). More than two-fifths of the sample had experienced intimate partner violence. In adjusted analyses, adolescents reporting intimate partner violence were more likely than others to report standard sexual risk behaviors--multiple partners, anal sex and unprotected anal sex (odds ratios, 1.7-2.2). They also were more likely to report coercive or deceptive sexual risk factors--partner sexual infidelity, fear of requesting condom use, negative consequences of condom request, and coerced condom nonuse (2.9-5.3). The high prevalence of intimate partner violence against young women attending adolescent clinics strongly indicates the need to target this population for abuse-related interventions. This need is underlined by the observed association between partner violence and sexual risk involving coercion or deception by male partners. Clinic-based STD and pregnancy prevention efforts should include assessment of sexual risk factors that are beyond the control of young women, particularly for those experiencing abuse.

Sex Differences in Jealousy: Comparing the Influence of Previous Infidelity Among College Students and Adults

Many studies have found that traditionally aged college students differ in their relative distress when asked to imagine a partner’s sexual versus emotional infidelity. This study examined how real partner infidelity experiences among college students and older adults influence these responses, using both forced choice and continuous scales. Consistent with evolutionary theory, and regardless of previous real infidelity experiences, male college students were more likely to be distressed by hypothetical partner sexual infidelity, whereas female college students were more distressed by emotional infidelity. In contrast, infidelity experience moderated adult responses. As hypothesized, sex differences were found only among adults who had not previously experienced real partner infidelity.

Impact of Relational Proximity on Distress from Infidelity

Men are generally more distressed by a partner's sexual infidelity whereas women are generally more distressed by a partner's emotional infidelity. The importance of the identity of the interloper, however, has been neglected. We explored the influence of relational proximity (i.e., the degree of genetic relatedness) on distress about infidelity. In Study 1, participants were most distressed when the imagined infidelity occurred between their current mate and close kin. In Study 2, relational proximity mattered more than the type of sexual behavior, the likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, and the likelihood of the infidelity leading to a damaged reputation. Together, the results indicate that identity matters, especially if the interloper is someone with whom we have familial bonds.

Sex Differences in Perceptions of Infidelity: Men Often Assume the Worst

Given that the costs of underperceiving (i.e., failing to detect) a partner's sexual infidelity would have been greater for men than for women, we hypothesized that men may possess evolved psychological mechanisms designed to overperceive the likelihood of their partner's sexual infidelity. We found support for this hypothesis using two different response formats, a Likert-type scale (Study 1) and a visual analog scale (Study 2). In both studies, men were more likely than women to judge that their partners would commit sexual infidelity in the future. Discussion addresses additional design features of the infidelity detection system.

Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationships: A Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Women’s Infidelity and Men’s Dominance and Control

Researchers studying the proximate (or immediate) causes of sexual coercion have proposed that partner rape is motivated by a man's attempt to dominate and control his partner and that this expression of power is the product of men's social roles. Researchers studying the ultimate (or evolutionary) causes, in contrast, have proposed that partner rape may function as an anti-cuckoldry tactic, with its occurrence related to a man's suspicions of his partner's sexual infidelity. In two studies, we collected data relevant to both perspectives to explore how these variables interact with men's sexual coercion in an intimate relationship. Regression analyses from Study 1 (self-reports from 256 men) and Study 2 (partner-reports from 290 women) indicated that men's sexual coercion of their partners was consistently predicted by female infidelity and men's controlling behavior, suggesting that both variables are necessary to explain men's sexual coercion. Discussion addressed limitations of the current research and highlighted the importance of integrating multiple levels of analysis when studying men's sexual coercion of their intimate partners.

Male mate retention mediates the relationship between female sexual infidelity and female-directed violence

Previous research has documented relationships between (1) female sexual infidelity and men’s non-violent mate retention behaviors, and (2) men’s non-violent mate retention behaviors and partner-directed violence. In the two studies, we examined two additional relationships: (1) the relationship between accusations of female sexual infidelity and men’s partner-directed violence and (2) whether men’s direct guarding mate retention behaviors mediates the relationship between accusations of female sexual infidelity and men’s partner-directed violence. The results indicate that (1) accusations of female sexual infidelity predict men’s partner-directed violence, (2) men’s reports of direct guarding mediates the relationship between accusations of partner sexual infidelity and partner-directed violence (Study 1, N = 165) and (3) women’s reports of men’s direct guarding partially mediates the same relationship (Study 2, N = 306). The discussion addresses sex differences identified in the mediation analyses, notes limitations of the research, and highlights directions for future research.

Morbid jealousy from an evolutionary psychological perspective

Individuals diagnosed with morbid jealousy have hypersensitive jealousy mechanisms that cause them to have irrational thoughts about their partner's fidelity and to exhibit extreme behaviors. Using a newly constructed database of 398 cases of morbid jealousy reported in the literature from 1940 to 2002, we tested four evolutionarily informed hypotheses about normally functioning jealousy mechanisms and applied them to this novel population of individuals diagnosed with morbid jealousy. We hypothesized that a greater percentage of men than women diagnosed with morbid jealousy would be focused on a partner's sexual infidelity and on indicators of a rival's status and resources and that a greater percentage of women than men diagnosed with morbid jealousy would be focused on a partner's emotional infidelity and on indicators of a rival's youth and physical attractiveness. All four hypotheses were supported. The results suggest continuity between normal jealousy and morbid jealousy and highlight the heuristic value of using archival databases to test evolutionarily informed hypotheses.

Sex Differences in Implicit Association and Attentional Demands for Information about Infidelity

Sex differences in reaction to a romantic partner's infidelity are well documented and are hypothesized to be attributable to sex-specific jealousy mechanisms that solve sex specific adaptive problems. There have been few cognitive-based investigations of jealousy, however. Here we investigated sex differences in implicit processing of jealousy-based information. In Experiment 1, we used the implicit association test (IAT) to investigate sex-differentiated biases in classifying sexual or emotional infidelity information as being positive or negative. Men made significantly more errors when asked to classify as pleasant, words indicating sexual infidelity. In Experiment 2, we modified the Stroop task to include words that depicted infidelity-related topics in three priming conditions: sexual infidelity priming, emotional infidelity priming, and a no priming control. Men were significantly slower to respond after being primed with sexual infidelity scenarios. The effect of sexual infidelity priming was not word-category specific, suggesting that cognition about a partner's sexual infidelity hijacks general cognitive and attentional processing. These findings suggest that men may automatically classify information about sexual infidelity as negative and that the automatic negative processing of sexual infidelity takes precedent over other types of immediate cognition.

Upset in response to a Sibling's partner's infidelities.

Using data collected from people with at least one brother and one sister, and consistent with an evolutionary perspective, we find that older men and women (a) are more upset by a brother's partner's sexual infidelity than by her emotional infidelity and (b) are more upset by a sister's partner's emotional infidelity than by his sexual infidelity. There were no effects of participant sex or sex of in-law on upset over a sibling's partner's infidelities, but there was an effect of participant sex on reports of upset over one's own partner's infidelities. The results suggest that the key variable among older participants is the sex of the sibling or, correspondingly, the sex of the sibling's partner, as predicted from an evolutionary analysis of reproductive costs, and not the sex of the participant, as predicted from a socialization perspective. Discussion offers directions for future work on jealousy.

Facial Resemblance Exaggerates Sex-Specific Jealousy-Based Decisions

Sex differences in reaction to a romantic partner's infidelity are well documented and are hypothesized to be attributable to sex-specific jealousy mechanisms which are utilized to solve adaptive problems associated with risk of extra-pair copulation. Males, because of the risk of cuckoldry become more upset by sexual infidelity, while females, because of loss of resources and biparental investment tend to become more distressed by emotional infidelity. However, the degree to which these sex-specific reactions to jealousy interact with cues to kin are completely unknown. Here we investigated the interaction of facial resemblance with decisions about sex-specific jealousy scenarios. Fifty nine volunteers were asked to imagine that two different people (represented by facial composites) informed them about their romantic partner's sexual or emotional infidelity. Consistent with previous research, males ranked sexual infidelity scenarios as most upsetting and females ranked emotional infidelity scenarios most upsetting. However, when information about the infidelity was provided by a face that resembled the subject, sex-specific reactions to jealousy were exaggerated. This finding highlights the use of facial resemblance as a putative self-referent phenotypic matching cue that impacts trusting behavior in sexual contexts.

Sex Differences in Responses to Sexual and Emotional Infidelity: Considerations of Rival Attractiveness and Financial Status

Evolutionary theory based research shows that women and men may differ in their responses to sexual and emotional infidelity. The present research sought to determine how the mate value characteristics of rivals affect the levels of emotional reaction men and women experience with these types of infidelity. Women were expected to report higher levels of upset when their male partners committed infidelity with an attractive rather than an unattractive woman while men were expected to experience the most upset when their female partners committed sexual infidelity with a male rival regardless of the rival's financial status. The results were partially consistent with these hypotheses. Women were most upset by their partner's sexual infidelity regardless of the attractiveness of their female rival and more upset by their partner's emotional infidelity with an attractive woman. Men were most upset with their partner's commission of sexual infidelity regardless of the financial status of their male rival. These findings are discussed in terms of prior research examining sex differences in jealousy and intrasexual competition.

Men's Desire for Children Carrying Their Genes and Sexual Jealousy: A Test of Paternity Uncertainty as an Explanation of Male Sexual Jealousy

In a classic study, Buss, Larson, Westen, and Semmelroth found that men were more distressed by the thought of a partner's sexual infidelity (labeled sexual jealousy) and women were more distressed by the thought of a partner's emotional infidelity (labeled emotional jealousy). Buss and his associates explained the results by suggesting that men are concerned about uncertainty of paternity, that is, the possibility of raising another man's child while believing that the child is their own. To test this explanation, the Desire for Children Scale was created. Its internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities were .86 and .89, respectively. Scores correlate with stated Number of Children Desired (convergent validity) but none of the Big-Five traits (divergent validity). It was hypothesized that for men scores on this scale would correlate positively with scores on sexual jealousy. The Desire for Children Scale and the two Sexual vs Emotional Jealousy items of Buss and his associates were given to 49 men and 55 women college students enrolled in psychology courses. Their average age was 19.9 yr. (SD= 3.7), and average year in school was 2.0 (SD= 1.2). Subjects volunteered to participate in the study in exchange for course credit. The hypothesis was confirmed and gives support to the uncertainty of paternity explanation.