Perceptions of Primary and Secondary Partners in Polyamorous Relationships

The main goal of the current project is to examine investments, communication, sexual frequency, and jealousy in polyamorous relationships, comparing partner #1 and partner #2 relationships. Our hypotheses are based on the Investment Model and demographic data from a sample of 3,530 adults who identify as polyamorous (see Holmes et al., 2014). The Investment Model measures commitment level, which is a function of three bases of dependence: (1) higher levels of satisfaction, (2) lower quality of alternatives, and (3) higher investments (Le & Agnew, 2003); and has been found to predict cognition and behavior within relationships (Rusbult & Agnew, 2010). Furthermore, demographic data– namely, that people in polyamorous relationships are likely to: (1) have a greater relationship duration with partner #1 than partner #2, (2) to live with partner #1 more frequently than reports of living with partner #2, and (3) to consider partner #1 a “primary” relationship as opposed to partner #2— assist us in making the following hypotheses (see attached documents for hypotheses and measures).

本项目的核心目标在于探究多角恋关系中投资、沟通、性频率以及嫉妒等要素，对比分析伴侣编号1与编号2的关系。我们的假设基于投资模型以及来自3530名自认为是多角恋者的成年人的人口统计数据（参见Holmes等，2014年）。投资模型衡量承诺水平，其为三种依赖基础的函数：（1）更高的满意度，（2）较低的可替代品质量，（3）更高的投资（Le与Agnew，2003年）；并且已被发现可以预测关系中的认知和行为（Rusbult与Agnew，2010年）。此外，人口统计数据——即多角恋关系中的个体更有可能：（1）与伴侣编号1拥有更长的关系时长，相较于伴侣编号2；（2）更频繁地与伴侣编号1同居，而非与伴侣编号2同居；（3）将伴侣编号1视为“主要”关系，而非伴侣编号2——有助于我们提出以下假设（参见附文以获取假设和测量方法）。