A team of scientists from the universities of Granada, Madrid and Alicante in Spain examined the emotional consequences of infidelity in romantic relationships from the perspective of those who cheat on their partners. It turns out that betrayal resulting from sexual dissatisfaction is perceived by unfaithful people much more painful than betrayal resulting from incompatibility of characters. To work published In the scientific journal International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH).
Experts conducted an experiment in which 301 people participated. Of these, 25% reported being in a relationship, while the remainder were single. Additionally, 18 percent of the group admitted to cheating on their partner at least once; 56 percent cited sexual reasons for cheating, 33 percent cited emotional reasons, and 11 percent cited both.
Participants were divided into two teams. The researchers first told volunteers the definition of infidelity and then asked the first group to imagine that they were cheating on their partners because they lost interest in sex or didn’t want to have sex often enough. The second group was asked to imagine cheating because their partner was emotionally distant.
After this, all subjects completed a questionnaire to assess negative emotions and psychological well-being.
The results showed that even imagined infidelity due to sexual reasons caused a stronger negative mental response than infidelity due to emotional coldness.
The study authors concluded: “Key findings suggest that sexual dissatisfaction (compared with emotional dissatisfaction) leads to higher levels of negative affect, which is associated with higher levels of hostility and ultimately leads to poorer psychological well-being.”
Sexologists before I learnedWhy do married people cheat and are they not ashamed of it?