title: Pathological jealousy: romantic relationship characteristics, emotional and personality aspects, and social adjustment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to identify romantic relationship characteristics, emotional and personality aspects and social adjustment in subjects with pathological jealousy (PJ) and to compare them to control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants, 32 individuals with PJ and 31 healthy volunteers completed measures of jealousy intensity, attachment type, love and relationship styles, personality, impulsivity, aggressiveness and social adjustment. Socio-demographic profiles were also obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants with PJ were significantly older than the control group, but no other important socio-demographic differences were observed. Participants with PJ were significantly more jealous and were predominately categorized with anxious-ambivalent attachment type, and Mania love style. They presented with elevated novelty seeking and harm avoidance, low self-directedness and cooperativeness, high levels of impulsivity and trait anxiety, and poor social adjustment. Multivariate analysis showed that jealousy intensity and trait anxiety were the variables that best distinguished participants with PJ from the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study was limited by the cross-sectional design and relatively small sample size.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PJ presents a particular pattern of attachment, love style, and personality structure, and deserves further attention as a specific potential disorder of the romantic bonding.
authors.affiliation: Impulse Control Disorder Outpatient Clinic (AMITI), Department and Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: alorena.costa@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Andrea Lorenada
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Impulse Control Disorder Outpatient Clinic (AMITI), Department and Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eglacy C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Sophia
authors.affiliation: Impulse Control Disorder Outpatient Clinic (AMITI), Department and Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cíntia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sanches
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hermano
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, and Laboratory of Psychopharmacology (LIM-23), Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Monica L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zilberman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007578:Jealousy; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010551:Personality; D018401:Sample Size; D012917:Social Adjustment; D066107:Social Skills
keywords: Attachment style; Love style; Pathological jealousy; Personality; Trait anxiety