Jealousy and Relational Satisfaction: Actor Effects, Partner Effects, and the Mediating Role of Destructive Communicative Responses to Jealousy

Communication researchers have embraced the idea that jealous communication is more important to satisfaction than jealousy experience, yet this has rarely been tested. The present study used dyadic data from dating couples to demonstrate that destructive communication mediates the association between jealousy experience and relational satisfaction, whereas other forms of jealous communication (constructive, avoidant, and rival-focused) do not. For constructive communicative responses, there were direct effects between communication and relational satisfaction, such that women's reported use of constructive communication was positively associated with both their own and their partner's relational satisfaction. For rival-focused responses, there were direct effects between jealousy experience and surveillance, rival derogation, and rival contacts. Jealousy experience was also positively associated with signs of possession, but only for women. When men reported using signs of possession, they also tended to report more relational satisfaction. These findings suggest that associations among jealousy experience, jealous communication, and satisfaction differ depending on the type of communicative response.