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

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Abstract

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

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Esin Tezer and Dr. Ashley Randall’s contributions to this study. The authors were at the Department of Educational Sciences at Middle East Technical University of Turkey during the data collection procedures and did not have financial or any other interests with the participants of the current study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Counseling and Counseling Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Gülşah Kemer

  2. Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, MEF University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Gökçe Bulgan

  3. Department of Educational Sciences, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

    Evrim Çetinkaya Yıldız

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  1. Gülşah Kemer
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  2. Gökçe Bulgan
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  3. Evrim Çetinkaya Yıldız
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Correspondence to Gülşah Kemer.

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Kemer, G., Bulgan, G. & Çetinkaya Yıldız, E. Gender Differences, Infidelity, Dyadic Trust, and Jealousy among Married Turkish Individuals. Curr Psychol 35, 335–343 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9298-2

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