Western Love Lab

Check out recent research from Love Lab alum, Rhonda Nicole Balzarini, and current lab members Taylor Kohut and Lorne Campbell:

"Across the board, we found that, compared to monogamists, polyamorists were more likely to select the “other” option whenever it was provided. This suggests that polyamorists tend to be more non-conformist in general; however, we can’t say whether that’s because some level of non-conformity predisposes people to polyamory, or whether being polyamorous predisposes people to be less conformist in other ways. While our results do not come from representative samples, they suggest that the stereotype of polyamorists as young, White, wealthy liberals doesn’t necessarily match up with reality. Indeed, compared to monogamists, polyamorists were not any younger, Whiter, wealthier, or more likely to identify with the Democratic party."

Who’s Into Polyamory? A Demographic Comparison of Polyamorists and Monogamists Polyamory is a concept that different people define in different ways, but common to most definitions is the capacity to develop more than one emotionally close relationship at the same time with the consent of everyone involved. Public interest in polyamory is  on the rise and there’s&a

Current members and alumni of the Love Lab were well represented at the recent Tech & Relationships Conference in Annecy:

Dr. Rhonda Balzarini presented on how to keep the spark alive in long-term relationships. Hint: one way is to use s*xual tech, like shared partner vi*****rs

Dr. Tara Marshall showed that people often use social media to follow their ex’s and social media exposure to an ex-partner causes poorer breakup adjustment

Dr. Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik shared work highlighting the mediating role of trust between self-control and intrusive behaviors

Nazanin Kafaeefp presented research examining online s*xual experiences and relationship functioning in LDRs

Christian Hahn presented work on online and offline infidelity, suggesting that more time online is associated with higher likelihood of infidelity

Check out a recent article written by Love Lab alum Rhonda Nicole Balzarini!

"Our results suggest that people who are polyamorous and have multiple relationships experience greater nurturance with primary partners (compared to secondary and monogamous partners) and greater eroticism with secondary partners (compared to primary and monogamous partners). Furthermore, we found that eroticism and nurturance were in most instances associated with reports of closeness and s*xual satisfaction — so experiencing those s*xual steamy feelings for a partner, as well as experiencing emotional support, security, and care, seem to benefit our relationships."

People in polyamorous relationships diversify their need fulfillment across multiple partners New research provides insight into why some people choose to have multiple romantic relationships at the same time. The findings suggest that this ...

Check out recently published research by Rhonda Nicole Balzarini, Taylor Kohut, Lorne Campbell, and others below:

"Polyamory is the practice of having multiple emotionally close relationships that may or may not be s*xual. Research concerning polyamory has just begun to determine how relationships among partners in polyamorous arrangements may vary. Most of the research assessing perceptions of polyamorous partners has focused on primary–secondary configurations; however, non-hierarchical configurations exist and can involve having multiple primary partners or having only non-primary partners. The current research is the first to examine perceptions of partners and relationship quality in various polyamorous configurations and compares results for each configuration to monogamous partners. Results from online convenience samples suggest that co-primary and non-primary configurations are common among polyamorous participants, with approximately 38% identifying with one of these configurations in 2013 and 55% in 2017. Furthermore, our results suggest that while relationships with partners in co-primary and non-primary structures still differ in some ways (e.g., investment, acceptance, secrecy, time spent having s*x), they are closer to their ideals on several psychologically meaningful indicators of relationship quality (e.g., commitment and satisfaction). In other words, despite rejecting hierarchical primary–secondary labels, many of the same relationship qualities differ systematically among partners in non-hierarchical relationships. Furthermore, pseudo-primary partners and primary partners in these relationships are more comparable to monogamous partners than they are to secondary partners. We discuss how these results inform our understanding of polyamorous and monogamous relationships and suggest future directions based on these findings."

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332957961_Comparing_Relationship_Quality_Across_Different_Types_of_Romantic_Partners_in_Polyamorous_and_Monogamous_Relationships?fbclid=IwAR05l6JMadeAlJorP7ysSkFqshUop7SJgIJkGrW2A07rvQNjxs6X2gSM2PI

Or found at: https://rdcu.be/bA055

www.researchgate.net