Effects of Sex, Sexual Orientation, Infidelity Expectations, and Love on Distress related to Emotional and Sexual Infidelity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of participant sex, sexual orientation, infidelity expectations, and love on emotional responses to emotional and sexual infidelity. Participants (72 lesbian women, 114 heterosexual women, 53 gay men, and 57 heterosexual men) completed a demographic form, continuous emotion ratings in response to hypothetical infidelity scenarios, the Infidelity Expectations Questionnaire (IEQ), and the Triangular Love Scale. Sex, sexual orientation, and commitment and intimacy among partners were significant predictors of various emotional responses to sexual and emotional infidelity. Alternatively, passion among partners and expectations about a partner's likelihood of committing infidelity were not significant predictors of emotional reactions to infidelity. Across participants, sexual infidelity elicited more distressing feelings than emotional infidelity. Group differences were also found, with women responding with stronger emotions to emotional and sexual infidelity than men, and heterosexuals rating emotional and sexual infidelity as more emotionally distressing than lesbian and gay individuals. Sex and sexual orientation differences emerged regarding the degree to which specific emotions were reported in response to sexual and emotional infidelity. Clinical implications are offered, including how mental health professionals might use these findings to help clients cope with the negative effects of infidelity on romantic relationships.

Intimacy, Loneliness & Infidelity

“…Infidelity, for its part, can very quickly escalate into relationship dissolution as well as bring about psychological distress. When marital status, which is considered a high demographic predictor of mental health, is challenged by tensions, lies and deceit, serious distress ensues [45][46][47][48]. In the following pages we will examine the role of loneliness in depression, social support, and selfesteem as it relates to the experience of infidelity.…”

“…Based on the equity model, one of the parties may feel underbenefited in the relationship based on their perception of what they put in it [59,65]. Another model, the deficit model proposes that the quality of marital satisfaction [45] and the quality and frequency of sexual intercourse [66] are negatively correlated with the occurrence of infidelity. Regardless, the revelation of infidelity, whether it be sexual, emotional, or both, most often escalate in an array of emotional reactions that can include loneliness, depression, social isolation, and a compromised self-esteem.…”

“…Feelings of loneliness stemming from unsatisfying intimacy, closeness, and low quality of sexual relationships, all cause a person to seek satisfaction and pleasure outside of their monogamous relationship [45,66].…”

The State of Sex Research in MFT and Family Studies Literature: A Seventeen‐Year Content Analysis

“…Infidelity ‐ Clinicians should consider infidelity across different‐sex and same‐sex couples to better help couples cope with the negative effects of infidelity on intimate relationships (Leeker & Carlozzi, ). …”

Infidelity, betrayal and mariticide - a case report

“…This violation results in feelings of sexual jealousy and rivalry. 4 Infidelity, contrary to what most people assume, is neither rare nor exclusively male behavior. There is currently debate in the field of evolutionary psychology whether an innate, evolved sex difference exists between men and women in response to an act of infidelity; this is often called a "sex difference".…”