The more controlling and invested the women were, the more they engaged in mate guarding overall as well as confronted rivals, publicized their relationship, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, & were aggressive

Validity of the mate guarding scale in women. Alita J. Cousins, Lauren E. Beverage, Madeleine A. Fugere. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: Mate guarding encompasses a variety of tactics including keeping partners committed, eliminating competitors, and keeping partners from leaving the relationship (Buss, 2002). Few scales exist that assess mate guarding and of those scales, the psychometric properties are mostly unknown. The current study set out to assess the psychometric properties of the Mate Guarding Scale. Previous analyses showed that the Mate Guarding Scale has six subscales: confronting rivals, publicizing the relationship, escorting partner, covert tactics, monopolization, and aggression. We collected data online from 1069 women. Results show that women who reported more overall mate guarding towards their partner had in turn been mate guarded more by their partner, were more invested and controlling in their relationship, and felt their relationship had more costs. Results showed that the more controlling and invested the women were, the more they engaged in mate guarding overall as well as confronted rivals, publicized their relationship, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, and were aggressive. Women who resisted mate guarding, measured with the Resistance Behavior scale, engaged in more mate guarding overall, confronted rivals, escorted their partner, used covert tactics, monopolized, and were aggressive. These analyses show that Mate Guarding Scale has high validity.