Abstract
To date, there is little understanding of polyamorous individuals’ jealous and compersive responses to their partner’s New Relationship Energy (NRE) with another partner and how mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and empathy may play a role in those responses. Participants (N = 122) were recruited from online polyamorous and AltSex communities and anonymously completed surveys through Qualtrics. As hypothesized, mindfulness was associated with greater positive affect (i.e., compersion) and lower negative affect (i.e., jealousy). Mindfulness related to jealousy through emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and, to a lesser extent, the undoing effect (through compersion). However, empathy was not supported as a mediator between mindfulness and compersion. Findings may elucidate the range of reactions polyamorous individuals might have in response to their partner’s NRE with another individual; as well as contribute to the development of effective interventions for individuals who desire to have a less negative or more positive emotional response.