SEXUAL JEALOUSY AS A FACULTATIVE TRAIT - EVIDENCE FROM THE PATTERN OFSEX-DIFFERENCES IN ADULTS FROM CHINA AND THE UNITED-STATES

Across two studies, 716 and 308 undergraduate students from the United States and mainland China, respectively, were administered a series o f measures on jealousy, emotional responses to partner infidelity, fam ily background, and personality, Across both studies for the U.S. and Chinese samples, a higher proportion of males than females reported mo re distress to a partner's imagined sexual infidelity than to emotiona l infidelity, whereas a higher proportion of females than males report ed more distress to a partner's emotional infidelity than to sexual in fidelity, consistent with theoretical expectations and previous empiri cal research. However, a much higher proportion of U.S. males and fema les reported more distress to sexual infidelity than their same-sex Ch inese peers, suggesting that the tendency toward sexual jealousy might be facultatively influenced by sexual permissiveness in the general c ulture. The overall pattern of results is considered in terms of indiv idual and contextual differences in the expression of jealousy, as wel l as in terms of the emotional and behavioral responses associated wit h jealousy reactions.