The subtitle deserves to be printed just as written: Polyamorous people still face plenty of stigmas, but some studies suggest they handle certain relationship challenges better than monogamous people do.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
Terri Conley, a professor of psychology and women\u2019s studies at the University of Michigan who studies polyamory, has analyzed a sample of 1,700 monogamous individuals, 150 swingers, 170 people in open relationships, and 300 polyamorous individuals for a forthcoming study. She said that while people in \u201copen relationships\u201d\u009d tend to have lower sexual satisfaction than their monogamous peers, people who described themselves as \u201cpolyamorous\u201d\u009d tended to have equal or higher levels of sexual satisfaction.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, polyamorous people don\u2019t seem to be plagued by monogamous-style romantic envy. Bjarne Holmes, a psychologist at Champlain College in Vermont has found that polyamorous people tend to experience less overall jealousy, even in situations that would drive monogamous couples to Othello-levels of suspicion. “It turns out that, hey, people are not reacting with jealousy when their partner is flirting with someone else,” Holmes told LiveScience.<\/p>\n
Sheff agreed. \u201cI would say they have lower-than-average jealousy,\u201d\u009d she said. \u201cPeople who are very jealous generally don\u2019t do polyamory at all.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n