Gender Differences, Infidelity, Dyadic Trust, and Jealousy Among Married Turkish Individuals

Abstract

In the present study, relationships among gender,emotional response to partner’s imagined infidelity (emotionaland sexual infidelity), and dyadic trust (low and high levels oftrust) were investigated as functions of married Turkish individuals’jealousy types (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral).Five hundred thirty seven (276 women and 261 men) marriedindividuals living in urban areas in Turkey participated in thestudy. Results of the Multivariate Analysis of Variance(MANOVA) revealed significant main effects for gender, infidelitytypes, and dyadic trust. Particularly, married Turkish men in this study were found to be more emotionally jealousthan women. Participants who responded to sexual infidelityas more upsetting had higher levels of emotional jealousywhen compared to the participants who found emotional infidelitymore upsetting. Moreover, participants with low dyadictrust for their partners were found to be high in their cognitivejealousy and behavioral jealousy reactions. Results arediscussed in details with implications for future research andsuggestions for mental health practitioners.