Anticipated Sexual Jealousy Scale

Abstract

The Anticipated Sexual Jealousy Scale (ASJS), developed by Bram Buunk, is a brief, five-item instrument designed to quantify the intensity of an individual’s negative emotional response to hypothetical scenarios involving their partner’s sexual attraction to or involvement with a rival. The scale operates on the definition of sexual jealousy as an aversive emotional reaction resulting from the perceived or likely sexual attraction of a partner to a rival (Bringle & Buunk, 1985). Notably, the ASJS avoids using the word ‘jealous’ within its items, instead asking respondents ‘how bothered’ they would be. This design choice addresses the negative connotation associated with the term in Western culture, ensuring a more direct assessment of anticipated feelings.

Keywords

Sexual jealousy, Anticipated Sexual Jealousy Scale, ASJS, relationship dynamics, infidelity, extradyadic behavior, emotional response, Bram Buunk, relationship threat.

Authors

Bram Buunk.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the ASJS is to measure the degree of sexual jealousy an individual anticipates feeling in response to a partner engaging in various levels of sexually laden behaviors with another person. By assessing reactions to hypothetical events—ranging from light flirting to a long-term sexual relationship—the scale provides a quantitative measure of potential emotional distress before an event occurs.

The scale is structured to capture not just negative feelings, but the entire spectrum of emotional reactions, including neutral and positive responses, acknowledging that extradyadic sexual behaviors may evoke diverse reactions depending on the individual’s relational philosophy, such as in sexually open marriages (Buunk, 1981a). The total score, derived by summing the items, indicates a higher degree of anticipated jealousy.

Construct

The ASJS measures the construct of Anticipated Sexual Jealousy. This construct is operationalized based on the definition provided by Bringle and Buunk (1985), which defines sexual jealousy as an aversive emotional reaction to a partner’s real, imagined, or likely sexual attraction to a rival. The scale captures this anticipation by presenting respondents with increasing levels of partner infidelity or attraction and asking for their emotional response.

A key theoretical consideration underlying the construct is that the measured reaction is distinct from actual, felt jealousy; it is the anticipated or predicted reaction to a potential threat to the exclusive relationship bond. The scale’s focus on ‘how bothered’ the respondent would be allows researchers to quantify the negative emotional impact without requiring the respondent to self-label their feelings using the socially loaded term ‘jealousy.’

Validity

The ASJS demonstrates considerable evidence for both concurrent validity and construct validity across multiple studies and populations.

Regarding concurrent validity, the scale effectively discriminated between groups based on their relationship attitudes and history. Individuals who reported being presently less jealous than before scored significantly lower on the scale (Buunk, 1981a). Furthermore, the scale strongly discriminates between persons high and low in sexual permissiveness; samples involved in extramarital relationships scored much lower than undergraduate students (t(596) = 19.78, p < .001) or the average population (t(466) = 11.27, p < .001) (Buunk, 1982). Additional evidence includes strong negative correlations found between the ASJS and a scale measuring extramarital behavioral intentions, and a high positive correlation with a scale measuring moral disapproval of extramarital sex (r(250) = .77, p < .001).

Construct validity is supported by positive and high correlations with other established measures of jealousy or related constructs. The ASJS correlated moderately with a scale measuring jealousy resulting from a spouse’s recent real extramarital relationship (r(218) = .56, p < .001). It also showed a strong positive correlation with the desire for an exclusive relationship (r(250) = .63, p < .01). Supporting the theoretical foundation that jealousy stems from a threat to the emotional bond, the ASJS correlated significantly with Rubin’s (1970) Love Scale, but not his Liking Scale (Buunk, 1981a). Final validity evidence comes from an open marriage study where the ASJS score correlated highly with perceived jealousy as rated by the partner, particularly among women (r(50) = .61, p < .001).

Reliability

The ASJS exhibits high internal consistency across diverse samples, indicating strong reliability for the instrument. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients consistently exceeded the acceptable threshold of .90 in several studies:

• .94 in a sample representative of the general Dutch population (Buunk, 1978).
• .90 in a study involving individuals engaged in extramarital relationships (Buunk, 1982).
• .91 in a sample of people in sexually open marriages (Buunk, 1981a).
• .91 in a sample of undergraduate students (Buunk, 1981b).

Additionally, the scale demonstrated stable temporal reliability. Test-retest reliability measured over a 3-month period in the open marriage sample was reported as r(100) = .76, p < .001, confirming that anticipated jealousy levels are relatively consistent over time.

Factor Analysis

While the ASJS is designed as a brief, summated measure, its alignment with core jealousy constructs has been confirmed through correlation studies referencing factor analysis. In the undergraduate student sample, the ASJS correlated strongly (r(380) = .59, p < .001) with a scale based on the factor Threat to Exclusive Relationship. This factor was identified as the first and main component in a factor analysis of jealousy-related items conducted by Hupka et al. (1985). This strong correlation suggests that the five items of the ASJS effectively capture the primary psychological dimension underlying romantic jealousy.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale measuring anticipated emotional response.

Format: Five-item questionnaire utilizing a 9-point Likert-type response scale.

Language Available: Dutch (Original development language); utilized in cross-cultural studies (Hupka et al., 1985).

Population Group: Adults in romantic relationships, including diverse subgroups (e.g., general population, undergraduate students, individuals in sexually open marriages, and those involved in extramarital relationships).

Age Group: Adult (18+).

Population Details: Validation samples included the general Dutch population, undergraduate students, and specific groups defined by high sexual permissiveness or non-monogamous relationship structures.

Test Methodology: Respondents are presented with hypothetical scenarios of partner behavior and asked to circle the number corresponding to their anticipated emotional reaction, ranging from ‘extremely pleased’ to ‘extremely bothered.’ Scoring involves simply summing the item responses; no reverse scoring is necessary. Higher scores indicate a higher degree of anticipated jealousy. Completion typically requires 1 to 2 minutes.

Keywords

ASJS, psychological measurement, relationship research, emotional stability, infidelity anticipation, Cronbach alpha, concurrent validity, self-report scale.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Bram Buunk, University of Nijmegen, Postbus 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was developed and validated primarily through research conducted by Bram Buunk in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with key publications dating from 1978 to 1985. Specific information regarding current licensing fees or formal permissions for non-academic use is not provided in the source material.

Reference’s

• Bringle, R. G., & Buunk, B. (1985). Jealousy and social behavior: A review of person, relationship and situational determinants. In P. Shaver (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 6). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

• Buunk, B. (1978). Jaloezie 2. Ervaringen van 250 Nederlanders [Jealousy: Experiences of 250 Dutch people]. Intermediair, 14(11), 43–51.

• Buunk, B. (1981a). Jealousy in sexually open marriages. Alternative Lifestyles, 4, 357–372.

• Buunk, B. (1981b). Liefde, sympathie en jaloezie. [Loving, liking and jealousy]. Gedrag, Tijdschrift voor Psychologie, 9, 189–202.

• Buunk, B. (1982). Anticipated sexual jealousy: Its relationship to self-esteem, dependency, and reciprocity. Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 310–316.

• Buunk, B. (1984). Jealousy as related to attributions for the partner’s behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 47, 107–112.

• Hupka, R. B., Buunk, B., Falus, G., Fulgosi, A., Ortega, E., Swain, R., & Tarabrina, N. V. (1985). Romantic jealousy and romantic envy. A seven nation study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16, 423–446.

• Rubin, Z. (1970). Measurement of romantic love. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 265–273.

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Items of the Anticipated Sexual Jealousy Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

How would you feel if your partner were to engage in the following behavior with another man/woman?

1. Flirting
2. Sexual intercourse a
3. Light petting
4. A long-term sexual relationship
5. Falling in love

The nine response options are repeated for each item:

• extremely pleased
• very pleased
• fairly pleased
• somewhat pleased
• neutral
• somewhat bothered
• fairly bothered
• very bothered
• extremely bothered