Comparing Relationship Quality Across Different Types of Romantic Partners in Polyamorous and Monogamous Relationships

Abstract

Polyamory is the practice of having multiple emotionally-close relationships that may or may not be sexual. 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, such as 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 within co-primary structures still differ in some ways (e.g., investment, acceptance and secrecy, time spent having sex), 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 nonhierarchical 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 relationships and the most common configurations among those who identify as polyamorous and suggest future directions based on these findings.

Preferences in Information Processing, Marginalized Identity, and Non-Monogamy: Understanding Factors in Suicide-Related Behavior among Members of the Alternative Sexuality Community

“…SRB is a documented mental health problem in the alternative sexuality community [20], with existing literature highlighting mental health [21], stigma-associated emotions [13], and acquired capability [12] as risk factors. The present study employed relationship orientation (e.g., non-monogamy) [34,66], health inequity/marginalized identity [5,37], and PIP [50,58] to further investigate factors associated with SRB among members of the alternative sexuality community. As is discussed in the following sections, all three perspectives, plus known mental health and suicide exposure-related factors, added value in understanding SRB.…”

Desire, Familiarity, and Engagement in Polyamory: Results From a National Sample of Single Adults in the United States

“…In the context of polyamory, romantic love and emotional closeness is often viewed as endless rather than limited to only one person (Moors et al, 2019). Polyamorous relationships are structured in a variety of ways, including one or two "primary" partners (often the focal or longest relationship partner) and additional "secondary" partner(s) (often referred to as hierarchical polyamory; Barker, 2005;Sheff and Tesene, 2015;Balzarini et al, 2019a). Polyamorous relationships may also take the form of triads (three person relationships), quads (four person relationships), or "V"s (Munson and Stelboum, 1999;Barker, 2005).…”

Assumption of the Myths of Romantic Love: Its Relationship With Sex, Type of Sex-Affective Relationship, and Sexual Orientation

“…Regarding the relationship that romantic love has with the type of affective sexual relationship practiced, some articles, especially qualitative studies, discuss a few types of non-hegemonic relationships in depth. However, few investigations delve into the possible similarities or differences between this type of relationship and traditional monogamous ones (Balzarini et al, 2019a , b ). In one of the first works on the subject of study, Klesse ( 2006 )—who interviewed non-heterosexual people in non-monogamous sexual relationships—found that polyamorous people constructed the term polyamory as a consensual non-monogamy, away from the principles of monogamy and romantic love.…”

“…Thus, the studies presented suggest that consensual non-monogamous forms do not differ substantially from romantic forms and that they have also incorporated characteristics of the latter. According to the findings of Balzarini et al ( 2019a ) it would not be enough to compare consensual non-monogamous relationships with monogamous ones, as the different configurations of polyamorous relationships would influence the similarities and differences that might exist with monogamous relationships.…”