Infidelity In Relationships Research Articles

The role of managing information about infidelity and differentiation of self in the adaptation of spouses after infidelity

Infidelity in marriage leaves a lasting mark not only on the relationship between two people but also affects the functioning of the entire family system. In psychological analyses, research on infidelity is dominated by approaches focusing on its negative consequences. These include, among others, the dissolution of the relationship, increased symptoms of depression, lowered self-esteem, and the emergence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Practical aspects are characteristic of studies where authors emphasize behaviours aimed at preventing infidelity in relationships. Relatively few publications are dedicated to identifying and discussing the psychological variables that may support adaptation after experiencing infidelity in a romantic relationship. The main goal of this article is to propose a new model of adaptation for couples after infidelity in marriage, based on the assumptions of systemic family theory. The specific aim is to present the results of research from the last decade that relate to the variables proposed in the model, such as self-differentiation and managing information about infidelity.

Hide and Seek with Finances: Financial Infidelity and Financial Snooping in Relationships

Hide and Seek with Finances: Financial Infidelity and Financial Snooping in Relationships

The phenomenon of online infidelity in dyadic relationships

The article considers such a phenomenon of modern partnerships as online infidelity. The problems and relevance of online infidelity research in foreign and domestic literature are described. An attempt to operationalise and separate the concepts of microchange and online infidelity (cyber infidelity) is presented. The results of the aerobatic study with the help of an unstructured interview and a survey on the topic of online infidelity in partnerships between men and women are presented.

Dealing with couple infidelity in romantic relationships: A group intervention feasibility study.

The extent to which group therapy benefits individuals who have experienced couple infidelity remains unexamined. In this study, a brief group intervention for individuals who experienced couple infidelity was designed, and the feasibility of the intervention was evaluated (i.e., acceptability; implementation; measurements' performance and, limited-efficacy testing). The final sample was composed of 20 women and 4 men (M = 29.95 years, SD = 12.3). Twenty-four completed pre and post assessments and 20 of these completed the follow-up assessment. At pre, post, and follow-up, participants responded to a questionnaire packet that included measures of depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms, relationship self-efficacy, centrality of event, cognitive fusion, and decision to forgive. Also, follow-up interviews were conducted. The closed group intervention consisted of eight 90-min weekly sessions. The group therapy process component was based on solution-focused therapy. Psychoeducation component included mindfulness, reflection on personal values, factors that contribute to infidelity, and forgiveness. Session rating scores indicated an overall high acceptance of the intervention, its contents, and goals. Interview reports showed that dealing with thoughts and emotions, understanding infidelity, and forgiveness were the most helpful contents. Group support and processes were also positively valued. Repeated-measures MANOVA results indicated statistically significant decrease in symptoms, cognitive fusion, and importance of the event, as well as an increase in self-efficacy. Measurement instruments showed adequate reliability. These results indicate that a group treatment may be an alternative format to help individuals deal with psychological consequences of couple infidelity, when couple therapy is not possible.

Morality in romantic relationships: The role of moral disengagement in relationship satisfaction, definitions of infidelity, and committed cheating

AbstractDespite the moral condemnation of infidelity in romantic relationships, its prevalence remains widespread. This might be partly explained by moral disengagement (MD), the ability to decouple one's actions from internalized moral standards. While social influences are an inherent part of the conceptualization of MD, they have not been studied in romantic couples. We investigated connections between MD and relationship satisfaction, cheating definitions, and cheating in a sample of 236 dating and married couples. Partners' levels of MD were positively correlated. Actor‐Partner‐Interdependence Models (APIMs) revealed negative actor and partner effects of MD on relationship satisfaction. MD was not connected to which behaviors are seen as cheating, but there were positive actor and partner effects on committed self‐defined cheating. Additionally, individuals high in MD suspected their partners to cheat more. These results indicate a gap between moral beliefs and moral actions. Individuals high in MD do not necessarily deny cheating on their partner but rather choose not to follow their inner moral compass.

Forgive, not forget: Exploring the influence of perception of dating infidelity to forgiveness behaviour in women

Infidelity in relationships is increasingly common in marriage and dating relationships. Its strong effect on mental health makes this topic worthy of further research, especially in perceptions of dating infidelity relationships. Perceptions of dating infidelity have three dimensions: ambiguous, deceptive, and explicit infidelity. This study uses a quantitative design with a total of 77 women and using convenience sampling. We analyzed using simple regression analysis. Data collection used The Forgiveness Scale and Perception of Dating Infidelity Scale. The results of this study indicate a significant negative effect between the perception of dating infidelity and forgiveness behavior in the women population who are victims of infidelity value F(1,75) = 5,114, p= 0.027, adj. R2= 0.051, and regression coefficient (β=-0,091). Ambiguous behavior F(1,75) = 4,582, p= 0.036, adj. R2= 0.045, and regression coefficient (β=-0,077) and deceptive behavior F(1,75) = 4,035, p= 0.048, adj. R2= 0.038, and regression coefficient (β=-0,054) dimensions have a significant relationship with forgiveness. Whereas explicit behavior is not significant F(1,75) = 1,425, p= 0.236, adj. R2= 0.006, and regression coefficient (β=-0,028). This research is an initial study on the perception of dating infidelity in Indonesia. It can be expected to be helpful as a study material in designing educational activities such as preventing infidelity in marriage preparation.

Whose bed have your boots been under? People's expected responses toward celebrities’ romantic relationship infidelity.

Whose bed have your boots been under? People's expected responses toward celebrities’ romantic relationship infidelity.

Behaviours Associated with Male “Sweethearting” (Infidelity) in Heterosexual Relationships in The Bahamas

This paper presents incidental data on sweethearting from a study on sexual violence in intimate-partner relationships between men and women in The Bahamas. Females participating in the study reported male infidelity to be common (with about 20% and possibly as many as about 50% of men being unfaithful) in both unmarried and married relationships. Associated with infidelity were behaviours of concern, such as physical and sexual violence, as well as psychological abuse by male partners. These abusive behaviours were associated with the woman feeling that she would leave the relationship if she could, and that the relationship was not a loving one. Furthermore, the study suggests that unfaithful married men are more likely to demonstrate activities of concern (in the form of elevated scores for domestic violence and psychological abuse) compared to unfaithful unmarried men in relationships with women.

Pola Komunikasi Suami Istri LDR dalam Mengatasi Perselingkuhan di Kota Tanjung Balai

This study aims to understand communication patterns with a pair who are in a long-distance or distant relationship (LDR). To improve family relationships, it is necessary to maintain and pay attention to several things including empathic communication, respect for each party's feelings, the ability to express something, self-discussion, flexibility in behavior, change and new forms of personality that are more compassionate. This study describes communication and marital relationships with long-distance communication that leads to infidelity in conjugal relationships. Case study of a long-distance couple among Indonesian migrant workers living in Tanjung Balai City. The method used to collect and analyze these case studies is qualitative. The method of collecting information is by interviewing and reading reference materials on social media about cheating news on Instagram and partner communication failures. The main cause of frequent communication problems is that couples often engage in one-way communication, which causes a lot of conflict and disagreement, and the inability to adequately resolve existing problems. This communication problem is also exacerbated by the long communication distance, which gives rise to many new problems, and the presence of new people or third parties from the relationship between husband and wife.

Emotional Dimensions of Infidelity: An Analysis of Psychological and Emotional Factors Affecting Relationship Infidelity

This study examines the psychological and emotional aspects that influence romantic infidelity. The study uses quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to understand emotional infidelity and its effects on relationships. Emotional intimacy shapes people's reactions to emotional infidelity, according to study. Attachment theory shows how attachment styles affect people's willingness to form emotional bonds outside of committed relationships. Unmet emotional wants and fears prompt anxious attachment styles to seek emotional connections outside their partnerships. The study emphasizes relationship communication patterns. Open discourse, emotional sharing, and mutual understanding can avoid emotional infidelity, which is linked to poor communication. The study examines how internet interactions affect emotional infidelity. The findings highlight how easily emotional ties may grow on digital platforms, raising questions about the limits between online interactions and emotional closeness in committed relationships. This research affects relationship treatment and education. Communication skills, attachment insecurities, and emotional intimacy interventions can avoid emotional infidelity. Couples can create trust and contentment through nurturing emotional connections in the primary relationship. This study illuminates emotional infidelity's psychological and emotional aspects. This study examines attachment styles, communication patterns, and the digital age to inform future research, interventions, and methods for better relationships. In a changing world, emotional infidelity must be addressed to build lasting partnerships.

High (in)fidelity: gender, the Dark Tetrad, and infidelity

Infidelity is a common problem in intimate relationships and is often a main contributor to relationship breakdowns. The aim of the current study was to extend the infidelity literature by differentiating between physical, emotional, and malevolent forms of infidelity, and exploring individual differences (i.e., gender and The Dark Tetrad of personality) that are associated with perpetration in these forms. The sample comprised 240 participants aged 18 to 67 years (Mage = 29.41 years, SD = 10.32; 76.8% women). People with higher psychopathy were more likely to engage in all forms of infidelity. High narcissism was predictive of emotional infidelity, and high sadism was predictive of malevolent infidelity. Interestingly, gender was only predictive of malevolent infidelity, with women more likely than men to perpetrate this form of infidelity. Exploratory analyses indicated that many of the associations between Dark Tetrad and infidelity were moderated by gender. Results of the current study may support researchers and therapists in differentiating between different types of infidelity (i.e., emotional, physical, malevolent). Further, these findings may contribute to the development of screening tools for therapists working who provide support for infidelity in intimate relationships.

Interpersonal transmission of ROCD symptoms and susceptibility to infidelity in romantic relationships

Relationship obsessive–compulsive disorder (ROCD) is a disabling presentation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) centering on close interpersonal relationships. Previous studies focused on the personal consequences of ROCD symptoms. Yet, studies investigating the consequences of ROCD symptoms on one's partner are scarce. In this study, we assessed whether exposure to romantic partners' elevated ROCD symptoms would heighten participants' ROCD symptoms and would increase participants' evaluation of their own and their partners' susceptibility to infidelity. Heterosexual couples (Ncouples = 50; Mage = 25.8) completed self-report questionnaires. One randomly selected partner of each romantic dyad was then randomly allocated to being exposed to information suggesting their partner has low (low-exposure) or high (high-exposure) levels of ROCD symptoms. Results indicated that participants in the high-exposure group showed higher ROCD symptoms than participants in the low-exposure group. Exposure to allegedly elevated levels of partners' ROCD symptoms also led participants to evaluate their own and their partners' susceptibility to infidelity as higher than participants in the low-exposure group, particularly among participants with pre-existing ROCD symptoms. These results illustrate a ‘contagious’ effect of unmediated exposure to partners' ROCD symptoms and its potentially unfavorable consequences. Clinical implications regarding partner involvement in the treatment of ROCD are discussed.

Family attitudes of university students in terms of extremism risks

Youth extremism continues to be relevant considering the fluid and changeable character of the contemporary world: new risk factors emerge while social institutions designed to provide social stability malfunction. The article aims at presenting the family attitudes among the youth which are connected to the problem of infantilism (social-psychological maturity), the attitude towards non-traditional gender relations, to the infidelity in romantic relationships, and how the media and TV series may contribute to an increased risk of extremism among the younger generations. The article is based on the data from six original studies on the above-mentioned issues conducted at the RUDN University in 2017-2019 with different sociological methods (questionnaire survey, focus groups and content analysis): a 2017 survey of RUDN students titled “Personal freedom through the eyes of young people” (N = 470); content analysis of four episodes of four Russian TV series in 2017; validation results for the method “Diagnostics of social immaturity in young people” (N = 500); four focus groups on the “Transformation of the contemporary social image of the Russian woman” in 2019; two focus groups with female students on the “Infidelity in romantic relationships” in 2021, and a 2021 survey of Moscow university students on extremism. The broad scope of topics covered in the study in the frame of up-to-date relevant research allowed for several findings which clarified the aspects that should be stressed when implementing the youth and family policy: the conscious parenting training for young families, systematic monitoring of social immaturity of young people in family and everyday life, restoration of the educational system to its former esteem as a counter to the present service sector. Some gradual changes can already be observed in the clear policy on same-sex relationships and attention to the media content at the government level.

Sociodemografski korelati motivacije za neverstvom muškaraca u partnerskim vezama

Basic goal of this research was to examine demographic correlates of motivation for infidelity. It was conducted on a convenient sample consisting of 110 male participants. Participants were tested online and they were categorized by different age groups. The data used was based on gender, age, length of intimate relationships, marital status and religion. In order to establish the extent of infidelity The scale for examining motives of infidelity in love relationships (Stojkić, Solaković, 2017) were used. The results have shown that there are significant differences between men of different generations in terms of infidelity. Also, there is significant correlation between infidelity and length of intimate relationship, age and religion. On the other hand, there is no correlation between motivation for infidelity and marital status.

Social Media Addiction and Personality: A Review of Research

Social networks are taking up more and more place in the daily life of modern people, becoming an integral part of our existence. At the same time, the role of social networks is constantly growing along with the rapid growth in the number of their active users. As online interaction for many has become more used than face-to-face communication, social networks have begun to seriously affect the way of life, communication, interests and psychology of people. The use of social networks is growing exponentially and has covered more than a third of the worlds population; therefore, researchers from different countries are actively studying social networks. Considerable empirical data has been accumulated that requires generalization and understanding, which is the purpose of this review. We found positive links between social media addiction and depression, anxiety, stress, neuroticism, emotional problems, low self-esteem, cyber-victimization, physical health problems, mental disorders, loneliness, procrastination, smartphone and internet addiction, and infidelity in relationships. Negative links were revealed between social media addiction and life satisfaction, academic performance of schoolchildren and students, labor productivity and commitment to the organization of its employees, social capital, and age. The main reason for social media addiction is the need for communication, and women are generally more active in social networks than men. This review provides only those links of social media addiction that have been established in a number of studies conducted in different countries. The presented results were obtained abroad using foreign language questionnaires that determine social media addiction. The lack of such a reliable and valid tool among Russian-speaking psychologists has become a serious factor hindering the conduct of similar domestic research. With this in view, the author developed a specially designed social media addiction questionnaire.

Frame of Act of “Infidelity in Love” and Its Euphemistic Representations in Russian and English Linguocultures

Euphemisms that act as means of linguistic representation of the act of “infidelity in love relationships” in the Russian and the English are examined in the article. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the situation of the act of “infidelity in love” is presented in the form of a frame model, in the structure of which slots are allocated that actualize various aspects of the situation under consideration. It is shown that in Russian linguoculture the slots “Agent of an act and its properties”, “Counterparty of an act”, “Patient of an act”, “Action as a manifestation of an act”, “Evaluation of an act, an agent of an act”, “Place of the act” are objectified. It was revealed that in the English linguistic culture, in addition to the indicated slots, the “Motive of Action” slot is also updated. Comparison of the semantics of the euphemistic units of the two languages showed that the euphemization of the act of “infidelity in love” is based on similar techniques: the mechanism of linguistic generalization, replacement of direct nomination with a foreign lexeme, pronominalization, meiosis, metonymic / metaphoric transfer. It is shown that the actualization of infidelity is carried out on the basis of similar metaphorical concepts MOVEMENT, RELATIONSHIP, ENTERTAINMENT / RECREATION, POLLUTION, which are identified both in Russian and in English, and the metaphorical concept of SPORT is found only in English.

Don´t cheat like I did: Possessive jealousy and infidelity in close relationships

In a sample of 68 adult men and 70 adult women from Santiago, Chile, with a mean age of 29.40 years and a median age of 29, the effects of one's own infidelity and that of one's partner on different types of jealousy were examined. Of the respondents 47.1% had ever been unfaithful, and over half (56.5%) reported that their partner had been unfaithful. There were no effects of one's own infidelity and that of one's partner on reactive and anxious jealousy, but those who had been unfaithful, as well as those whose partner had been unfaithful, expressed the highest levels of possessive jealousy. These effects were not moderated by gender nor did age affect jealousy. Women were higher in all types of jealousy than men were.

Fatherhood Is Associated with Increased Infidelity and Moderates the Link between Relationship Satisfaction and Infidelity

Background: Relationship satisfaction has been identified as an important factor in terms of extradyadic sexual involvement. However, in men, fatherhood might be associated with infidelity by leading to changes in relationship satisfaction and the social life of parents. To date, no study has focused on the association of fatherhood and infidelity, nor the influence of fatherhood on the association between relationship satisfaction and infidelity. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 137 fathers and 116 non-fathers were assessed regarding relationship satisfaction, infidelity, and potential confounds. Results: Significantly more fathers reported having been unfaithful in the current relationship than non-fathers (30.7% vs. 17.2%). Fathers also reported longer relationship duration, higher relationship satisfaction, and lower neuroticism than non-fathers. Furthermore, fatherhood moderated the association between relationship satisfaction and infidelity insofar that only in non-fathers reduced relationship satisfaction was associated with infidelity. Conclusions: The results suggest that fatherhood increases the risk of engaging in extradyadic sexual activities and moderates the link between relationship satisfaction and infidelity. However, results need to be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional study design and the lack of information about the specific time point of the infidelity incident(s).

Exploring reasons for variations in anxiety after testing positive for human papillomavirus with normal cytology: a comparative qualitative study.

ObjectiveTo explore reasons for variations in anxiety in women testing positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) with normal cytology at routine HPV primary cervical cancer screening.MethodsIn‐depth interviews were conducted with 30 women who had tested HPV‐positive with normal cytology, including 15 with low‐to‐normal anxiety and 15 with high anxiety. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis to compare themes between low and high anxiety groups.ResultsSeveral HPV‐related themes were shared across anxiety groups, but only highly anxious women expressed fear and worry, fatalistic cognitions about cancer, fertility‐related cognitions, adverse physiological responses and changes in health behaviour(s). In comparison to those with low anxiety, women with high anxiety more strongly voiced cognitions about the 12‐month wait for follow‐up screening, relationship infidelity, a lower internal locus of control and HPV‐related symptom attributions.ConclusionsReceiving an HPV‐positive with normal cytology result related to various emotional, cognitive, behavioural and physiological responses; some of which were specific to, or more pronounced in, women with high anxiety. If our observations are confirmed in hypothesis‐driven quantitative studies, the identification of distinct themes relevant to women experiencing high anxiety can inform targeted patient communications and HPV primary screening implementation policy.

Evaluating the use of social media in escalating conflicts in romantic relationships

Conflict in romantic relationships is a natural phenomenon. However, the use of social media by romantic partners has been described as a means of escalating conflicts in romantic relationships. This study sought to find out the effects of social media use on conflict in romantic relationships through the mediating variables of jealousy, infidelity, and monitoring The study recruited 373 individuals who are in romantic relationships. The findings of this study revealed a significant relationship between social media use and conflict in romantic relationships. This study also affirmed that jealousy, infidelity, and monitoring romantic partners are significant mediators between social media use and conflict in romantic relationships. Importantly, the study revealed that social media use is not a predictor of infidelity in romantic relationships.