Characteristis of jealousy in a group of university students at Bogota city

Abstract

The present study is a descriptive-correlational study. The objective of the study was to describe the level of jealousy, some of its features and its relationship with other variables such as depression and infidelity. It was done in a sample of 150 university students in Bogotá city. The instruments applied were the Interpersonal Jealousy scale (Mathes y Severa, adapted by Martínez & Rodríguez, 1996)and the Beck Depression Inventory. The results indicated that jealousy scores tend to be distributed normally, 10% of the population achieved a score of pathological jealousy and 4,7% of the population had aggressive behaviour against her/his partner, himself or herself or her/his opponent. Besides, there are not significant differences between the level of jealousy comparing men and women. However, the mean scores tended to be higher in men. The study also found that people who have been unfaithful at some point in their lives tend to score higher on the scale of jealousy. The study’s results showed that there was a negative correlation between the time of the relationship and the jealousy score. It indicates that as the time of the relationship increases, the jealousy level decreases. On the other hand, the results confirm that when the time of the relationship is longer, the level of depression decreases.

Keywords

• jealousy
• couples
• anxiety
• depression