Examining the relationships between relationship satisfaction, forgiveness, jealousy and university students' perceived abuse in romantic relationships

This study aimed to examine the relationships between relationship satisfaction, forgiveness, jealousy and university students' perceived abuse in romantic relationships. In the study, a survey method in a quantitative research approach was adopted. A total of 335 (236 female, 99 male) students studying at Abant Izzet Baysal University participated voluntarily in the study during the 2014-2015 academic term. Throughout the study, four different scales; namely, "Romantic Relationship Assessment Inventory", "Relationship Stability Scale", "Hearland Forgiveness Scale", and "Romantic Jealousy Scale" were used. In addition, a Personal Information Form developed by the researcher was utilized to gather university students' socio-demographic information. To analyze the data collected in the study, correlation, Kruskal Wallis test, and Mann Whitney U test were computed. The results of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant negative relationship between relationship satisfaction, forgiveness of situations, one of the sub-dimensions of forgiveness, and perceived abuse in romantic relationships. However, jealousy as well as forgiveness of self and forgiveness of other was not significantly related to perceived abuse in romantic relationships. The results of the study also indicated that university students' perceived abuse in romantic relationships displayed a significant difference regarding gender while it did not differ depending on age, socio-economic status and the duration of relationship. In line with the results of the study, implications and directions for future studies were also discussed.