EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium
Volume 13, Special Issue 1, 2023
Title
Between the Lines of Betrayal: An Examination of a Large-Scale Survey on Sex Differences in Infidelity Behaviors, Motivations, and Outcomes
Author(s)
Savoie, J. M., Zinck, M., & Fisher, M. L.
Abstract
The Truth About Deception website provides information on romantic and sexual relationships. In addition, visitors may complete anonymous, short quizzes. Here we focus on the responses from a quiz on infidelity completed by 94,943 (66.1% women, 33.9% men) individuals. The items pertain to personal experiences with infidelity, motivations for engaging in infidelity, and the outcomes of infidelity. Analyses based on odds ratios showed that women are significantly more likely to say they have had an emotional affair, engaged in infidelity because they were bored with their sex life, took part in cybersex, used online sources to have infidelity, became involved in infidelity when there were problems in the relationship, engaged in an infidelity with someone their spouse knew, and considered leaving their spouse because of their infidelity. In contrast, men were significantly more likely to engage in sexual infidelity and do so more than once. Six additional items dealt with how the spouse ‘discovered the truth,’ indicating that most individuals (56.8%) confessed independently. We discuss these findings from an evolutionary perspective, focusing on sex differences in infidelity experiences arising from sex-specific dilemmas faced by humans over evolutionary time. To the best of our knowledge, these data represent an untapped source of information whereby evolutionary-based predictions may be tested. KEYWORDS: Online, Adultery, Sex Differences, Relationships, Monogamy
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59077/EPRS8790
How to cite this article:
Savoie, J. M., Zinck, M., & Fisher, M. L. (2023). Between the Lines of Betrayal: An Examination of a Large-Scale Survey on Sex Differences in Infidelity Behaviors, Motivations, and Outcomes. The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium, 13, (Sp.Iss.1), 54-67.
