Not All Affairs are Created Equal: Emotional Involvement with an Extradyadic Partner

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to explore how participants' recollection of their level of emotional involvement with an extradyadic partner related to the precipitants and outcomes of that involvement. Three hundred and forty-five undergraduates and 115 community individuals with a history of extradyadic involvement completed self-report measures about their most recent extradyadic experience. In both samples, greater emotional involvement with an extradyadic partner was related to dissatisfaction with the intimacy in the primary relationship prior to the affair, intimacy and self-esteem motivations for involvement, gradual onset of attraction to the extradyadic partner, lower remorse regarding the involvement, a greater likelihood of primary partner knowledge of the involvement, and (in the community sample) marital dissolution. A path model further identified interrelationships among the variables, such as direct effects of dissatisfaction with intimacy in the primary relationship and concern for the primary partner's feelings. Emotionally involved affairs are different from casual affairs in terms of precipitants, motivations, development, and outcomes, with implications for prevention, intervention, and understanding the dangers of different types of affairs.