Are men or women more prone to jealousy?

In a publication in the journal Evolution Behavioral Sciences, American researcher Alyssa M. Sucrese (from the University of Texas) and colleagues asserted: in all relationships, women are always the ones most prone to jealousy.

According to scientists, jealousy is an "evolutionary advantage" of humans to protect the things we hold dear. According to social psychologists, jealousy is a "spice" in a relationship, but only when at a romantic enough level - (Image: PSYPOST)

In the past, there have been studies on feelings of jealousy when partners cheat, but not many psychosocial studies in the context of close heterosexual friendship. In the study by Alyssa M. Sucrese and colleagues, they focused on the feelings of both sexes when their spouses have a purely heterosexual friendship.

A group of 364 participants was recruited for the study, all of whom were married and at least 18 years old. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups, responding to different scenarios involving their spouse meeting a new friend of the same or different gender.

The results show that both men and women feel jealous when their spouses have a friend relationship of the opposite sex. But the level of jealousy among female participants was higher than that of male participants, even if it was merely friends, without male-female affection.

Most previous research results show that men tend to be more jealous and angry than women when mentioning/or discovering their girlfriend/wife is having an affair. Interestingly, most of them are only jealous when they know for sure that their girlfriend/wife is having sex with another man. Because that means blood ties will be threatened and he risks having to raise children that are not his genetics.

On the other hand, women tend to be more emotionally jealous/uncomfortable than carnal. Subconsciously, they will perceive a greater risk of "losing a boyfriend/husband" to another woman if he has feelings for that person.

But the research results of Alyssa M. Sucrese did not show any difference in feelings of jealousy between the sexes when it comes to sex. In particular, women are jealous of every girlfriend beside her husband. The degree to which jealousy is large or large is partly influenced by the attractiveness of the "rival". The younger, prettier, more competent, and attractive the "rival" is, the higher the level of jealousy will evoke.

The researchers concluded: "Perhaps women's feelings of jealousy serve as an 'adaptive solution' to any situation that may arise in their relationship. They are more than just anxiety. worrying about whether or not her friend might become a 'third person' in the future. Subconsciously they worry that their partner will spend all their time, money and other resources on their opponent - even if it's a close friend/colleague relationship."

The study came shortly after researchers from the University of California identified the existence of a feeling of jealousy in monkey brains and claimed that we inherit this trait as an evolutionary advantage to help protect its most valuable resources.