What Proportion of the Coupled Population Cheats? Despite dozens of studies, the true prevalence of infidelity remains a mystery

What Proportion of the Coupled Population Cheats? Despite dozens of studies, the true prevalence of infidelity remains a mystery. Michael Castleman. Psychology Today, Feb 15 2021. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/all-about-sex/202102/what-proportion-the-coupled-population-cheats

Infidelity: How Prevalent?

Infidelity is difficult to research. Few willingly admit it. I recall a survey showing that only a tiny percentage of married folks had ever strayed. The researchers interviewed subjects in the presence of their spouses. Duh!       

Admissions of non-monogamy depend on how researchers ask the question. University of Colorado scientists asked 4,800 married women about infidelity during the previous year using both face-to-face interviews and an anonymous questionnaire. In the interviews, only 1 percent admitted it, in the anonymous questionnaire, 6 percent. 

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• Three quarters of American adults call extramarital sex “always wrong,” yet a majority of Americans who have been unfaithful call their own justified.

• Infidelity is associated with: previous cheating; relationship boredom, dissatisfaction, and duration; expectations of imminent break-ups; and low-frequency, poor-quality partner sex. Among men, risk also increases when partners are pregnant or there are infants in the house.