If you can't understand why your significant other gets jealous over certain things, it may just be because men and women experience the emotion differently.
A Chapman University study involving about 64,000 American adults found that men were more likely to get jealous over sexual infidelity, whereas women are more likely to get jealous over emotional infidelity, reported Health.
For purposes of the study sexual infidelity was defined as a partner having sex with another person but not being in love with them. Emotional infidelity was defined as a partner falling in love with someone else but not having sex with them.
Participants in the study were asked to define their sexual orientation and then were given a "what if" scenario of both infidelity situations and were asked how they would respond.
The study found that 54 percent of heterosexual men were most upset over sexual infidelity, compared to only 35 percent of women, reported Health. When it came to emotional infidelity, 65 percent of women were most upset, as compared to 46 percent of heterosexual men.
While the study is interesting, it's important to note that it has some built-in limitations.
Gregory White, a professor of psychology at National University in San Diego who has researched jealousy and written a book on the topic, told Health that these "what-ifs" may not actually reflect how the study participants would feel if the hypothetical event actualy happened.
"When you ask people what they think they would do, they are drawing on all their beliefs about themselves and past experiences," the professor explained.
White said jealousy is often affected by early experiences.
"There is a kind of jealousy one gets when you have been burned, especially in the late teens to early 20s," White told Health, adding that these tendencies can be hard to shake in future relationships.
