Perception of potential adultery by spouses at different stages of the family life cycle

Abstract

The study is devoted to the poorly studied problem of ideas about potential adultery at different stages of the family life cycle. In the work, the question arises – how the features of dyadic relationships and ideas about adultery at different stages of the family life cycle correlate. It is shown that at all stages of the family's life cycle, potential betrayal is associated with negative feelings and emotions, is perceived as betrayal, disrespect, collapse of trust, is the cause of the breakdown of relations. The specificity of the perception of potential unfaithfulness at different stages of the family life cycle is determined and described – a family with a child under three years old, a family with a teenage child, a family at the stage of the "empty nest" cycle. We revealed gender differences in the perception of potential adultery by spouses at different stages of the family life cycle. It was found that the idea of adultery at different stages of the family life cycle is associated with the peculiarities of dyadic relationships (the degree of trust, style of love, satisfaction with marriage), as well as with the communicative tolerance of the personality, as a quality responsible for understanding the other and oneself in a situation of interaction, for building relationships with a partner in a constructive scenario.