“Could ‘Rebecca Syndrome’ Be the Hidden Toxicity Destroying Your Relationships?”
The model, first proposed in 1958 by the Texas Air Force researchers Ernest Tupes and Raymond Christal, establishes neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion as the five factors that combine to create a person’s personality.
Out of these, neuroticism, characterized by anxiety and emotional instability, was found to be the strongest predictor of jealousy, as individuals are more likely to react negatively to perceived threats and display the critical factor in the Rebecca Syndrome: obsessive behavior towards a partner’s past.
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On the other hand, traits like agreeableness and openness were associated with lower levels of jealousy, as individuals tended to trust their partners more and were less likely to view an ex as a rival.
Another interesting finding was that these personality-driven tendencies did not significantly differ between genders, relationship statuses, or past infidelity experiences, with childhood trauma being ultimately the root cause of the phenomenon.
Netizens took to social media to share their own experiences with the now-infamous Rebecca Syndrome
Image credits: Netflix
“What about the ex-baby mama obsessively jealous of the new gf? What’s that one called? I had to live through their nonsense for years,” a reader wrote.
“There’s a difference between being jealous and being territorial. Jealousy is wanting something that isn’t yours; being territorial is protecting what’s yours,” another argued.
