What Do People Do, Say, and Feel When They Have an Affair? Motivations for bilateral infidelity and their relationship to behavioral, emotional, and sexual outcomes.

Selterman, D., Garcia, JR, and Tsapelas, I. (2020). What Do People Do, Say, and Feel When They Have an Affair? Associations between motivations for bilateral infidelity and behavioral, emotional, and sexual outcomes.Journal of Sex & MaritalTherapy. advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2020.1856987

Commentary

This study examined experiences during/after romantic infidelity (affair) and initial motivations for engaging in infidelity among U.S. college students and Internet-based participants (N = 495).

Results showed that meaningful associations emerged between motivational and experiential variables, with bilateral motivations being associated with longer affairs, more public dates with the affair partner, and dissolution of the primary relationship.

In addition, non-binary situational motives were associated with shorter affairs, lower sexual satisfaction during affairs, and lower rates of disclosure and dissolution.

These findings suggest a typology of meaningful infidelity that may help researchers and practitioners resolve relationship conflicts with others.