Relationship among Facebook jealousy, aggression, and personal and relationship variables

In the last decade, jealousy research has focused on the Facebook jealousy; however, few studies have identified its relationship to aggression. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between Facebook jealousy and aggression, and some personal and relational variables. A sample of 846 participants (516 females, 330 males) aged 18–66 years from Turkey completed the Facebook Jealousy Questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire. From an evolutionary perspective, gender differences in jealousy could be explained through evolution-based differences in parental investment, and that males exhibit increased jealousy in response to sexual infidelity, whereas females become jealous in response to emotional infidelity. A forced-choice question (with a choice of sexual infidelity or emotional infidelity as the more jealousy evoking) was asked to the participants in order to determine gender differences on sexual and emotional jealousy. Results indicated no significant gender differences in Facebook Jealousy scores. Self-esteem and age negatively predicted Facebook jealousy. All aggression sub-types significantly predicted Facebook jealousy. Consistent with the evolutionary perspective and previous evidence, chi-square analysis showed that males’ and females’ responses to the forced-choice question differ significantly.