Marital Cheating Increases Dramatically in 15 Years

Religion Today | Updated: Mar 06, 2013

Marital Cheating Increases Dramatically in 15 Years

Last year, researchers at the University of Washington Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors who analyzed data on infidelity taken from the General Social Survey found that roughly 20 percent of men and 15 percent of women under age 35 admitted to cheating on their spouses in 2006 (the latest figures available), up from 15 and 12 percent, respectively, 15 years earlier, Fox News reports. According to David Popenoe, founder and co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, part of the problem "is that we've become an 'anything-goes' society, in which the indiscretions of politicians, sports figures, and pop celebrities are practically daily news." Interestingly, research shows that infidelity rates are much higher among cohabiting couples -- which are at an all-time high -- than married couples who don't live together first. Additionally, the study found that men under age 35 were two and a quarter times more likely to have cheated if they had seen an X-rated movie. 



Marital Cheating Increases Dramatically in 15 Years