Becky's Parental Jealousy in the Stepfamily Reserach Proposal

Becky DeGreeff
Parental Jealousy in the Stepfamily Research Paper Proposal

Topic:
My research topic is jealousy in stepfamily relationships. Specifically, I will look at the presence and influence of jealousy in the relationships between the adult parental figures (biological parents and stepparents).

Annotated Bibliography:
Afifi, W. A., & Reichert, T. (1996). Understanding the role of uncertainty in jealousy experience and expression. Communication Reports, 9, 93-102.

This study attempts to differentiate the experience of jealousy from the expression of jealousy in romantic relationships. The researchers use uncertainty as a lens to predict when someone may experience jealousy along with when and how he or she may express the jealousy. This will be useful to help me clarify and be more specific in my research design and interpretation of results.

Aune, K. S. & Comstock, J. (2001). An exploratory investigation of jealousy in the family. Journal of Family Communication, 2, 29-39.

This study examines jealousy among family members. The results showed approximately half the respondents reported jealousy tied to a sibling and over 20% involved the mother. Emotional responses to jealousy included feelings of hurt, anger, and exclusion. To cope with the jealousy, most respondents reported rational and avoidance strategies. This information will be helpful in providing insight to why certain stepfamily members may experience jealousy differently than others. It will also be interesting to see if any results from this study hold true in my proposed study’s results.

Bevan, J., & Samter, W. (2004). Toward a broader conceptualization of jealousy in close relationships: Two exploratory studies. Communication Studies, 55, 14-28.

This article reported on two studies conducted back to back to examine a variety of issues tied to jealousy. The first study confirmed six types of jealousy in close relationships: friend jealousy, family jealousy, activity jealousy, intimacy jealousy, power jealousy, and romantic jealousy. The second study responded to scenarios depicting each type of jealousy and confirmed different types jealousy evokes different types of emotional responses and reactions. Intimacy jealousy reported the most intense reactions. This study will also offer insight to the proposed study. I suspect most of the six types of jealousy from this study will be present in my proposed study.

Brehm, S. S. (1992). Intimate relationships (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

This book examines aspects of intimate relationships. An entire chapter is devoted to jealousy. The chapter discusses jealousy and envy, the causes of jealousy, types of jealousy, gender differences in jealousy, and coping strategies. This information will offer insight to how various members may experience and cope with jealousy in the stepfamily relationship differently.

Cleman, M., Ganong, L., & Fine, M. (2004). Communication in stepfamilies. In A. L. Vangelisti (Ed.), Handbook of family communication (pp. 215-232). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

This chapter looks specifically at communication in the stepfamily. It covers communication issues related to the period before the stepfamily exists (single-parent household), through the early stages of stepfamily development, into the established stepfamily (including different types of established stepfamilies), and communication in later-life stepfamilies. This information will be very useful in developing the research proposal offering insight to the complexity of the stepfamily formation and relationship development.

Ganong, L. H., & Coleman, M. (2004). Stepfamily relationships: Development, dynamics, and interventions. New York: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers.

This book gives a though overview of stepfamilies from the definition of a stepfamily through the various issues tied to stepfamily development and maintenance. Selected chapters from this book including courtship, couple dynamics, and parenting will be particularly useful for the proposed research project.

Guerrero, L. K., & Afifi, W. A. (1999). Toward a goal-oriented approach to understanding communicative responses to jealousy. Western Journal of Communication, 63, 216-248.

This study examined how individuals respond communicatively to various types of jealousy. Six types jealousy related relationships goals were presented to participants: relationship maintenance, preservation of self-esteem, uncertainty about the primary relationship, uncertainty about rival relationships, re-assessing the relationship, and restoring equity through retaliation. Results indicate different communicative responses to jealousy accompany the different types of relationship goals. This study will be useful to the current proposal offering insight to how the individual goals of each parental figure may influence the jealousy they experience.

Guerrero, L .K., Andersen, P. A., Jorgensen, P. F., Spitzberg, B. H., & Eloy, S. V. (1995). Coping with the green-eyed monster: Conceptualizing and measuring communicative responses to jealousy. Western Journal of Communication, 59, 270-304.

This article consisted of three studies developed to measure communicative responses to jealousy focusing on reducing uncertainty, maintaining or repairing relationships, and saving face/restoring self-esteem. The first study was a qualitative analysis of responses to jealousy, the second and third studies focused on finding measures for the various types of responses. The information provided by this argument should provide insight to the proposed study. Specifically the information related to uncertainty, saving face, and restoring self-esteem.

Guerrero, L. K., Spitzberg, B. H., & Yoshimura, S. M. (2004). Sexual and emotional jealousy. In J. H. Harvey, A. Wenzel, & S. Sprecher (Eds.), The handbook of sexuality in close relationships (pp. 311-345). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

This chapter reviews literature related to various aspects of sexual and emotional jealousy. It defines jealousy and distinguishes between sexual and emotional jealousy. Sections of the chapter that I believe will be particularly insightful for the proposed project are the reviews on parental investment, sex differences in jealousy expression, and power issues.

Knox, D., & Zusman, M. E. (2001). Marrying a man with “baggage”: Implications for second wives. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 35, 67-79.

This study found women who married men with ex-wives and children reported lower levels of marital happiness due to the issues related to the “baggage”. The information in this study should provide insight to the current proposal related to possible triggers of emotional jealousy in the stepmother role.

Lazarus, R. S. (2006). Emotions and interpersonal relationships: Toward a person-
centered conceptualization of emotions and coping. Journal of Personality, 74, 9-46.

This essay article argues for the study of emotion using narratives. Jealousy is considered an emotion. This article should be useful in the development of my argument for the method I have chosen which is qualitative interviews recording participant narratives of jealousy in the stepfamily.

Yoshimura, S. M. (2004). Emotional and behavioral responses to romantic jealousy expressions. Communication Reports, 17, 85-101.

This study examined emotional and behavioral responses to romantic jealousy. The study found targets of romantic jealously responded with either positive or negative emotions depending upon the jealous individual’s expression of jealousy and his or her behavior when expressing jealousy. This study will add insight to the present research proposal by offering insight to the experiences and emotions faced by the recipient or target person of the jealous emotions and behaviors.

Research Questions:
Based on the existing research examining jealousy in interpersonal relationships and the existing research examining stepfamily relationships, there appears to be a gap in the literature related to jealously in the stepfamily, specifically between the adult parental figures in the stepfamily. Therefore, this research proposal asks the following research questions:
RQ1: How is jealousy discursively presented by adult female parental figures in stepfamilies?
RQ2: How is jealously discursively presented by adult male parental figures in stepfamilies?
RQ3: How do adult parental figures in stepfamilies cope with emotions of jealously?
RQ4: How do adult parental figures in stepfamilies cope with being the recipients of emotions of jealously directed toward them by other members in the stepfamily?

Proposed Sites:
I will be interviewing adults who are members of a stepfamily and consider themselves a parental figure (parent or stepparent). Participants do not have to be married. At this point I plan to interview both male and female parental figures. I will use snowball sampling to recruit participants.

Method of Data Collection:
My method of data collection will be in-dept interviewing.

Summary:
Recording in-depth interviews with adult parental figures in stepfamilies will allow me to examine and interpret how the various stepfamily parental figures discursively present the emotion of jealousy and how they cope with it. Encouraging participants to discuss their role as a stepfamily parental figure, recall emotions of jealousy they have experienced and/or been recipients of, and explain how they coped with the emotions and/or experience will allow their individual narratives to develop. I am hoping this study will offer a valuable contribution to the stepfamily literature bringing attention to the role the emotion of jealousy may play in the development and maintenance of various stepfamily relationships