Consensual Nonmonogamy and Characteristics of People Who Follow This Lifestyle
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Authors
Wright, Katherine E.
Issue Date
2012
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This research examined self-ratings of happiness, life satisfaction, and the Big Five
personality traits of consensually nonmonogamous participants versus monogamous
participants. 1,507 respondents (1,417 monogamous, 80 consensually nonmonogamous)
responded to an ad posted online in various cities across the U~ited States, which asked
for individuals to participate in a study assessing their opinions on different kinds of
relationships, and asked for views of themselves and attitudes towards relationships, in
general. All participants completed a questionnaire assessing the Big Five personality
factors, happiness, and life satisfaction. Due to the unequal number of consensually
nonmonogamous participants and monogamous participants, a random sample of 80
participants from each group was chosen for analysis. It was hypothesized that
consensually nonmonogamous participants would adopt the traits of deviants, with
significantly lower scores in conscientiousness, and agreeableness when compared to
monogamous participants. Results indicated a significant difference between groups on
conscientiousness and openness, with nonsignificant differences in agreeableness,
extraversion, neuroticism, happiness, and life satisfaction. Conscientiousness and
openness were found to be predictors of a participant's relationship style, with higher
scores on conscientiousness predicting for monogamy, and higher scores on openness
predicting for consensual nonmonogamy. These results indicate that even though
consensually nonmonogamous individuals may differ from monogamous individuals on
conscientiousness and openness, other factors related to personality and lifestyle are not
significantly different. These findings bring to question theories that state consensually
nonmonogamous individuals are psychologically unwell or personality deviants.
Description
41 p.
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