Extramarital Affairs in Sikkim and their Causes: A Study with Emphasis on the Difference Between the Sexes

Abstract

Collecting data for 240 individuals from rural and urban regions, this study examines the possible determinants of number of extramarital affairs (EMANO) in a hill state (Sikkim) in India. Using Poisson, Zero Inflated Poisson (ZIP) and instrumental variable Poisson (IV Poisson) model, this study found that income; financial satisfaction and marital satisfaction has positive and significant effect on number of extramarital affairs. Religiousness and same caste marriage reduce the chance of having EMANO significantly. This study also found that the relationship between the number of years married and EMANO are nonlinear and the tendency of having extramarital affairs reduces once the married life reached 12-13 years on average. Level of significance and importance of the variables on EMANO differs between male and female population.