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8.5: Extramarital Affairs

  • Page ID
    308836
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    Extramarital affairs are intimate relationships with a person other than one's spouse that may be sexual or nonsexual. Most U.S. extramarital affairs are sexual and non-consented to by one's spouse. In spite of a variety of estimates on how many married people were ever unfaithful to their spouse, all scientific studies have found that men were more likely than women to have an extramarital affair and that most men and women do NOT ever have an affair.

    Marital infidelity has been and continues to be disapproved of by the general public. Many in the U.S. who disapprove of affairs, simultaneously understand the frailties of the human experience and sympathize to some degree with those who make this "mistake." Such was found to be true with politicians, movie and TV stars, and sports celebrities (you can pick any one from the online list available on the Internet when you search "celebrity affairs"). Affairs don't always lead to marital or relational dissolution, but in most cases it is better if the offending spouse or partner confesses the infidelity rather than simply gets caught.


    8.5: Extramarital Affairs is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.