Father abandonment and jealousy: A study among women on Curaçao

The goal of the present study was to examine whether women who were abandoned by their father experience more anxious, preventive and reactive jealousy than women who grew up in the presence of their father. The sample consisted of 186 female undergraduate students from Curaçao (age M = 22.88; SD = 5.68) who were categorized into two groups: women who grew up without their father and women who grew up in the presence of their father. We found that women who were abandoned by their father reported significantly more anxious and preventive jealousy than women who grew up in the presence of their father. There were no significant differences between these two groups in reactive jealousy. Possible explanations are discussed in light of the potential function of jealousy for females who grew up without a father.