Driven by a healthy appetite for academic challenges, Melissa Mitchell is graduating from Simon Fraser University this month with a reputation for being a trailblazer in virgin research territory - polyamorous relationships.

Before collecting her bachelor of arts - an honours major in psychology and an extended minor in criminology - the Tsawwassen resident has already co-presented new research on the topic at a major conference.

Mitchell and one of her honours thesis supervisors, SFU psychology professor Kim Bartholomew, recently presented a qualitative study on why people become polyamorous, at the Western Psychological Association meeting in San Francisco.

Mitchell notes research identifies "polyamory as a relationship form in which individuals have simultaneous consensual romantic relationships with multiple partners."

After analyzing 161 posts on an online polyamory forum, Mitchell and Bartholomew concluded there are two main reasons why people become polyamorous.

"One, they say 'this is who I am' and feel their relationship style is similar to a sexual orientation," says Mitchell. "Two, they are adapting to relationship circumstances. In several cases, an individual who was originally in a monogamous relationship fell in love with someone outside the coupled relationship, and instead of dissolving the original coupling, negotiated a polyamorous solution."

Mitchell, who was on the Dean's and President's honour rolls and maintained an SFU Open Undergraduate Scholarship, is now lining up international conferences to present her honours thesis on polyamorous relationships. The graduate of South Delta Secondary wanted to know how getting needs met with one partner relates to satisfaction with and commitment to another partner.

Using known research based relationship satisfaction and commitment measurements and adding a new one - need fulfillment for two romantic relationships - Mitchell surveyed 1,093 polyamorous individuals recruited from polyamorous forums and mailing lists.

"On average," found Mitchell, "respondents reported high need fulfillment, relationship satisfaction and commitment with both their partners, and were highly satisfied with having multiple partners. In addition, the participants' two relationships were relatively independent of each other."

The circumstances under which Mitchell pursued her undergraduate degree make her research achievements in an area of psychology rarely investigated and barely understood even more remarkable.

After taking on six courses - two beyond a full course load - in her first year at SFU, Mitchell helped SFU psychology professor Rebecca Cobb, her other thesis supervisor, revise a manual for assessing couples' relationships. She also worked as a research assistant for both Cobb and Bartholomew while pursuing her studies.