Potential Rival Anxiety Test | Insight into Your Sense of Security and Boundaries in Intimate Relationships

I. What Is 'Potential Rival Anxiety' (Rival Anxiety)?

Potential rival anxiety does not mean you have really encountered a third party; it refers to the state of alertness, unease, comparison, and even defensiveness that arises inside you when an attractive or threatening person of the opposite sex (or the same sex) appears near your partner. It is a common emotional reaction in intimate relationships and is essentially a contest of attachment security and and sense of self-worth over relationship boundaries.

Moderate alertness helps maintain the exclusivity of the relationship, but excessive anxiety can lead to increased control, the collapse of trust, and even 'self-fulfilling prophecy' conflicts.

II. Theoretical Basis: Attachment Theory and the Cognitive Appraisal Model

This test is mainly built on Bowlby's Attachment Theory and and Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory:

• Attachment Theory: Securely attached people stay calmer when facing potential threats; anxiously attached people easily overinterpret signals and develop a strong fear of abandonment; avoidantly attached people may appear cold or in denial, but may be suppressing insecurity inside.
• Cognitive Appraisal Theory: The emergence of emotion depends on an individual's 'primary appraisal' (is there a threat?) and 'secondary appraisal' (can I cope?). The same friend of the opposite sex is seen by some as ordinary socializing and by others as a potential crisis.

III. The Four Core Dimensions of This Test

The test contains 18 questions and assesses your psychological state across the following four dimensions:

• Threat-perception sensitivity: Are you prone to reading your partner's normal socializing as a 'danger signal'? For example, do you form unnecessary associations about your partner's colleague of the opposite sex?
• Self-worth comparison tendency: When facing a potential competitor, do you automatically compare yourself negatively, thinking 'I am not as good as them'?
• Boundary control and communication pattern: When uneasy, do you tend to communicate directly and set boundaries, or use the silent treatment, test the waters, or apply emotional pressure?
• Baseline of attachment security: In everyday relationships, do you lack a sense of security by nature and need frequent confirmation and reassurance?

IV. Purpose and Target Audience

This test aims to help you:

• Identify whether your 'alarm threshold' in intimate relationships is reasonable
• Distinguish 'real threats' from 'imagined threats'
• Understand how your attachment pattern affects jealousy reactions
• Learn healthier boundary-setting and communication skills

It suits people who are dating, married, or interested in the psychology of intimate relationships.

V. Scoring and Result Interpretation

Each question is scored 1-5, from 'Not at all like me' to 'Very much like me.' The system will match you, based on the pattern of your scores across the four dimensions rather than a single total score, with the most fitting relationship security type, and offer targeted advice for psychological well-being.