The Relation between Rumination and Emotional Reactions to Infidelity in Romantic Relationships

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between rumination and emotional reactions to infidelity. The sample of the study consisted of 72 participants from Turkey who reported being cheated on by their dating relationship. A Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al. 1988) was used to measure the reactions to infidelity and the Ruminative Response Scale (Treynor et al. 2003) was used to measure rumination. Canonical correlation analyses were utilized to determine the relationships between rumination with the canonical variables of Brooding and Reflection and the emotional reactions to infidelity with the canonical variables of Positive Affect and the Negative Affect of participants. Results indicated that brooding and reflection, and negative and positive effects are interrelated. In other words, rumination is positively related with negative effects and negatively related with positive effects as reactions to infidelity.