An experimental study of adolescents in Spain found that imagining being unfaithful to a romantic partner due to sexual dissatisfaction is likely to lead to more negative affect than imagining being unfaithful due to emotional reasons. The negative emotions were stronger in young women (compared to young men), in participants who were in a romantic relationship, and in those who have been faithful to their partners. The study was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Infidelity is being unfaithful or disloyal in a romantic or committed relationship by engaging in a romantic or sexual relationship with someone other than one’s partner. It typically involves secrecy and deceit, leading to a breach of trust and emotional pain for the betrayed partner. Infidelity can have significant consequences, including the potential for the dissolution of the relationship, emotional trauma, and long-lasting damage to trust. Infidelity is generally considered the most serious and threatening transgression in romantic relationships.
Infidelity is fairly common among adolescents. In spite of that, there is not much research on the causes of infidelity in this population. Studies have focused on mapping the emotional and behavioral changes in adolescents that suffered infidelity, but the perspectives of the individual perpetrating infidelity still remain relatively unknown.
Study author Ana M. Beltrán-Morillas and her colleagues wanted to explore the causes and consequences of infidelity in adolescence from the perspective of the perpetrator. They note that romantic relationships during adolescence are key elements of psychosocial development of individuals and that results from Spain might be particularly interesting because infidelity rates in this country seem to be higher than in the rest of Europe.
These researchers divided infidelity into infidelity due to sexual dissatisfaction and infidelity for emotional reasons. Their expectation was that infidelity that was due to sexual dissatisfaction would trigger higher levels of negative emotions and hostility, and lead to a much lower level of psychological well-being than infidelity motivated by emotional dissatisfaction. They also expected that negative emotions and hostility created by infidelity would reduce psychological well-being.
The study involved 301 Spanish adolescents, between 15 and 17 years of age. 25% reported being in a dating relationship, while the remaining 75% of participants were single. 18% of participants reported that they were unfaithful to a partner at least once. 56% of these infidelity cases were of sexual nature, 33% were emotional, and 11% had elements of both.
The participants were randomly divided into two groups. The researchers first showed them a definition of infidelity to clarify any misunderstandings about what constitutes infidelity. One group of participants was then asked to imagine being unfaithful to their partner because the partner did not want to have sex frequently, lost interest in sex, and was unwilling to innovate sexual practices (infidelity motivated by sexual dissatisfaction). The researchers asked the other group of adolescents to imagine that they committed infidelity because their partner was emotionally distant, showed no interest in spending time together, and neglected their needs (infidelity motivated by emotional dissatisfaction).
After this, participants completed assessments of negative emotions (the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, aiming to identify the types of emotions a participant would experience if he/she was unfaithful), hostility (the hostility subscale of the Aggression Questionnaire), and psychological well-being (the Psychological Well-being scale).
Results showed that (imagined) infidelity for sexual reasons led to stronger negative affect compared to (imagined) infidelity for emotional reasons. However, there were no differences in the level of experienced hostility after imagining the two types of infidelity. The situation was the same with psychological well-being – both groups had the same average levels of this characteristic.
Young women reported stronger negative emotions compared to young men. Participants who were currently in a romantic relationship (in real life) and those who had not been unfaithful also experienced stronger negative emotions. Further statistical analyses revealed that it is possible that being unfaithful leads to higher hostility and negative emotions, which, in turn, lower psychological well-being. Hostility levels were associated with psychological well-being when unfaithfulness was for sexual reasons, but not when it was for emotional reasons.
“The main results show that sexual dissatisfaction (vs. emotional dissatisfaction) seems to trigger high levels of negative affect, which in turn appear to be associated with high levels of hostility and ultimately result in worse psychological well-being,” the study authors concluded.
The study makes a valuable contribution to the scientific understanding of the emotional consequences of infidelity. However, it also has limitations that need to be considered. Notably, the infidelity situations were only imagined and this happened in a public setting where participants were expected to report on their emotional experiences. This might differ from real situations of infidelity that would likely trigger much stronger emotions and which usually happen in situations where one’s intimacy is preserved.
The study, “Infidelity in the Adolescence Stage: The Roles of Negative Affect, Hostility, and Psychological Well-Being”, was authored by Ana M. Beltrán-Morillas, Laura Villanueva-Moya, M. Dolores Sánchez-Hernández, María Alonso-Ferres, Marta Garrido-Macías, and Francisca Expósito.