Fueling the flames of the green-eyed monster: The role of ruminative thought in reaction to romantic jealousy

This study examines factors predicted to influence individuals' responses t o romantic jealousy, Participants completed scales measuring relationship-s pecific linking (i.e., believing that a specific relationship is essential to one's happiness), relationship-specific rumination, possessiveness, trus t, and communicative responses to jealousy. Contrary to expectations, relat ionship-specific linking and relationship-specific rumination were not corr elated. Relationship-specific linking was weakly associated with possessive ness, compensatory restoration, negative affect expression, and violence to ward objects, but not associated any of the other variables. As predicted, relationship-specific rumination was negatively associated with trust, and positively associated with possessiveness, surveillance/restriction, manipu lation, relationship threat, rival contact, compensatory restoration, negat ive affect expression, signs of possession, derogation of competitors, dist ributive communication, violent communication, violence toward objects, act ive distancing, and avoidance/denial. The hypothesis that relationship-spec ific rumination associates with integrative communication was not supported . The findings suggest that jealous rumination is an important cognitive me chanism that motivates some individuals to enact counterproductive communic ative responses to jealousy.