A new study is dishing the dirt about why people are unfaithful. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences polled nearly 2-thousand users of Ashley Madison, a website for married people who want to have affairs. And it turns out, most men and women who cheat on their spouse don’t actually regret it and actually feel the affair is sexually and emotionally satisfying.
“In popular media, television shows and movies and books, people who have affairs have this intense moral guilt and we don’t see that in this sample of participants,” explains lead study author Dylan Selterman.
The research reveals:
- About 20 to 25% of married people - and 33 to 50% of people who are dating - have had sex outside their relationship.
- The majority (84 to 90%) of respondents in the Ashley Madison survey were married, middle-aged men and most of them say they have a deep love for their spouse and no serious relationship problems.
- But about half of them admit they’re not having sex with their spouse, which led them to find someone else to have sex with.
- Sexual dissatisfaction with their spouse is the biggest reason respondents gave for having an affair.
- About 80% have kept their affairs a secret.
“We don’t see solid evidence here that people’s affairs are associated with lower relationship quality or lower life satisfaction,” Selterman says in a Johns Hopkins news release. “Sometimes they’ll cheat even if their relationships are pretty good.”
Source: Indy 100
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