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10 Things That Can Predict Whether Your Spouse Will Cheat on You

2 minute read
Ideas
By Eric Barker
Barker is the author of Barking Up The Wrong Tree

  • A man is as likely to cheat as he is to experience a flight delay. The probability is even higher when his wife is pregnant. Men who are risk-takers or easily aroused are more likely to wander.

  • The more economically dependent a man is on his partner, the more likely he is to cheat on her (for women, economic dependency had the opposite effect.) Ironically, men who make significantly more than their female partners were also more likely to cheat.

  • Women’s number of lifetime sexual partners predicted an increased risk of getting some on the side. Wives who wear the pants in the relationshipare more likely to cheat.

  • Years of education reduced the chance a woman would stray. Women who were more educated than their husbands were more likely to engage in sexual infidelity. All ladies are more likely to have affairs with men who are more educated than their spouse.

  • Women dissatisfied with their relationship are more than twice as likely to cheat; those who feel they are sexually incompatible with their partners are nearly three times as likely.

  • Women are much more likely to have affairs when they’re young. For men the likelihood increases with age. Men are more likely to cheat with younger women.

  • Men with masculine voices and women with feminine voices are both more likely to cheat. Having power and being confident makes both men and women more prone to straying.

  • Number of previous sex partners, impulsivity, relationship happiness and outside options are all predictors of who will cheat. Infidelity first occurred after an average of seven years of marriage. ~50% of individualsmet their extramarital partner at work.

  • Some people cheat just because they’re stressed out. About 75 percent of marriages survive if the male is cheating, and about 65 percent survive if the female is having an affair.

  • Among individuals engaging in infidelity, 56% of men and 34% of women rate their marriage as “happy” or “very happy.”

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    This piece originally appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

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