Does new study sheds more light on infidelity?

By Liz Lockhart

A new study published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior could shed more light onto the subject of sex-addiction.

506 men and 412 women who had been in a monogamous sexual relationship which lasted from between three month to 43 years were involved in the study. Variables such as religion, education and income were included in the topics which the participants were asked to report on.

Sexual personality variables were also measured and the participants were asked questions about their relationships.

So what makes a partner stray? It would seem that the answer is quite different for men compared to women. For men it can be a sexual performance anxiety and also men appear to have more risk-taking tendencies. For women it is more likely linked to relationship issues.

For men and women alike, it seems that personality characteristics and interpersonal factors are far more likely to be the cause of infidelity than religion, education, gender or marital status.

The rate of infidelity in men and women is surprisingly similar - 23% in men and 19% in women. The study found, however, there was a great variation in the factors associated with predicting unfaithfulness by gender.

Significant predictors for men are personality variables which include propensity for sexual excitation (being turned on easily by triggers and situations) and worries about failure in sexual performance..

The key for women is relationship happiness. Women who are unhappy or dissatisfied in their relationship are more than twice as likely to cheat. Women who feel sexually incompatible with their partner are nearly three times as likely to stray.

‘This research shows that demographic variables may not influence decision-making much as previously thought, that personality matters more, especially for men.’ Said Robin Milhausen Ph.D., who conducted the study with doctoral student Kristen Mark and Erick Janssen Ph.K., of Indiana University.

Other studies have found that the fear of sexual performance failure in men is a key factor to infidelity. Whilst this may seem strange it seems to be a consistent finding. Perhaps high-risk situations can be sexually arousing.

‘People might seek out high-risk situations to help them become aroused, or they might choose to have sex with a partner outside of their regular relationship because they feel they have an ‘out’ if the encounter doesn’t go well – they don’t have to see them again’ said Milhausen.

“All kinds of things predict infidelity,” Milhausen added. “What this study says is that when you put all of those things together, for men, personality characteristics are so strong they bounce everything else out of the model. For women, in the face of all other variables, it’s still the relationship that is the most important predictor.

“Taken at face value, this research might seem to just support sexual stereotypes: Women are just concerned about the relationship, and, for men, once a cheater, always a cheater, regardless of their relationship. But the caveat is that there are a lot of variants and factors that are not explained here that might impact whether someone cheats.”

‘Still, knowing that sexual personality characteristics — and, for women, relationship factors — are strong predictors suggests directions for therapeutic interventions’ Milhausen concluded.