In many cultures, individuals are romantically involved with several different partners throughout their lives. Emerging adulthood, which occurs post-adolescence in the late teens and twenties, is a period in which individuals typically experience multiple romantic relationships (Arnett, 2014). After a relationship ends, however, it still has the potential to influence new relationships. New partners may respond negatively to their significant others’ romantic histories (Lancaster, Dillow, Ball, Borchert, & Tyler, 2016; Robards & Lincoln, 2016). Indeed, people often avoid discussing past romantic relationships with their partners to prevent jealousy (Anderson, Kunkel, & Dennis, 2011; Baxter & Wilmot, 1985).
Romantic relationships are defined as mutual, ongoing interactions typically characterized by affection, closeness, and physical intimacy (Collins, Welsh, & Furman, 2009). In Western societies, romantic relationships are most commonly dyadic and, over time, defined by exclusivity (Penke & Asendorpf, 2008); in this way, third parties with romantic intentions may jeopardize a couple’s relationship. To date, researchers have conceptualized romantic jealousy as thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in reaction to perceiving a third-party threat to one’s romantic relationship (see Bevan, 2013, for a review). This threat is usually conceptualized as an active threat to the relationship itself wherein a rival (perceived or actual) is currently attempting to pursue a romantic partner or vice versa (e.g., Dijkstra & Buunk, 2002; Knobloch, Solomon, & Cruz, 2001). Although the conceptualizations of jealousy as a response to a perceived active threat to the relationship itself may represent the majority of cases, they often do not include cases of jealousy involving rivals or threats from the past. […]
Literary criticism and popular press writers coined the terms retroactive jealousy (e.g., Ben-Zeév, 2013; Scrimgeour, 2015; Stockill, 2013) and retrospective jealousy (e.g., Ben-Zeév, 2013; Guignery, 2006) to refer to jealousy directed at the past. Retrospective jealousy occurs when a partner feels jealous when thinking of a rival who actively interfered in the current relationship at some point in the past (Fox & Frampton, 2017). George might experience retrospective jealousy thinking about how Biff tried to steal his girlfriend Lorraine years ago in high school. Although Biff is no longer interfering in George and Lorraine’s relationship, at one time, Biff actively threatened the relationship. Retroactive jealousy, the focus of this study, occurs when a person feels troubled by their partner’s previous romantic relationships that existed before the current romantic relationship began. The partner’s exes or perceived rivals never actively interfered in the current relationship in the past, and they are not actively interfering in the relationship in the present (Fox & Frampton, 2017). For example, Jane listening to her spouse Kris talk about going to a dance with a high school girlfriend might evoke jealousy, even if Kris no longer has contact with the high school girlfriend and met Jane years after ending that relationship. […]
Because social networking sites (SNSs) provide a lot of information about an individual’s social network and interactions, it is possible that they may stir up jealousy in relationships (see Bevan, 2013, for a review). Higher levels of Facebook use or involvement with Facebook predict greater romantic jealousy (Elphinston & Noller, 2011; Muise et al., 2009) and relational dissatisfaction (Elphinston & Noller, 2011). Other studies have shown that certain content on a partner’s SNS profile has the potential to trigger jealous or angry reactions, particularly in women (Cohen et al., 2014; McAndrew & Shah, 2013; Muise et al., 2014).
Given that SNSs can often serve as scrapbooks to one’s life and relationships, it seems viable that the information on a partner’s profile could evoke jealousy about events in the past. For example, as noted above, Robards and Lincoln (2016) described how one of their participant’s boyfriends felt uncomfortable when he looked at images of his partner’s past relationship on her Facebook profile. In addition, if a romantic partner is still linked to an ex on SNSs, this association makes it relatively easy to obtain information directly from the ex-partner’s social media content as well. This information may extend well into the past due to the affordance of persistence, as information posted to SNSs may stay visible for a long period of time (Treem & Leonardi, 2012).
Adapted from: Frampton, J. R., & Fox, J. (2018). Social Media’s Role in Romantic Partners’ Retroactive Jealousy: Social Comparison, Uncertainty, and Information Seeking. Social Media + Society, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118800317
Extra discussion questions:
· Aside from relationships, what are some other things that can cause people to become jealous?
· Later on in the full version of the article, certain possible solutions to avoiding jealousy are mentioned. What might some of them be? Explain your ideas.
· Is it possible to stay friends with an ex-partner without causing jealousy? Explain your answer.