If you love giving your relationship a shot in the arm by making your partner jealous, you are more likely a narcissist, according to a new study.

According to Live Science, a new study from researchers at the University of Alabama suggests that people with a high-level of narcissistic personality traits are inducing jealousy on purpose to achieve certain goals - either to control or to boost their self-esteem.

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"There is some element of normality to narcissists, in that they pursue goals much like everyone else does. We're just finding that it's to a slightly greater degree," said lead author Gregory Tortoriello.

The conclusion was drawn from a survey of 237 undergraduates who were asked to fill out questionnaires about their personality traits, their tendencies to induce jealousy, and the motives behind the behavior.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Tortoriello's team's interest to find out what's driving people to make their partner jealous was boosted by previous studies showing that narcissists often sabotage their romantic relationships with behaviors like flirting with other people.

The researchers explained that the motives of inducing jealousy vary by type of narcissism.

Narcissistic personalities fall into two categories. The first category is the grandiose narcissism which is marked by entitlement, extroversion, and high self-esteem. The second one is the vulnerable narcissism which describes those who are similarly entitled and willing to exploit people to get what they want. The only difference is that they are "inherently fragile," which causes them to become insecure and have low self-esteem, said Tortoriello.

According to the study, grandiose narcissists are motivated to induce jealousy in their mates in their attempt to gain power and control within the relationship.

Vulnerable narcissists, meanwhile, are said to have far-reaching reasons of doing so aside from control. That includes testing the relationship strength, seeking security in the relationship, compensating for low self-esteem, and exacting revenge for what they perceive to be their partner's bad behavior.