Infidelity is defined by Psychology Today as the breaking of a promise in a romantic relationship to remain faithful to their significant other. Regardless of whether that promise was part of a privately uttered agreement between lovers, or of marriage vows, or an unspoken assumption.
At the time when couples make their promises, they may not be thinking of committing infidelity or suffering from one. However, infidelity is quite common which could scar both partners, especially the one who was being cheated on.
A person may start asking if they should stay in the relationship or will trust be rebuilt, or is there no other choice but to pack up and move on. Ultimately, trust has been broken and could leave them traumatized from the event.
Now, a new study published in Frontiers in Psychology explores the effects of infidelity on future relationships.
Lower Quality of Relationship
The study suggests that having cheated on a partner and having been cheated on by a partner were both associated with poor or lower quality of the current relationship, PsyPost reported.
Study author Joana Arantes and her team said that while infidelity is known to have devastating effects on the relationship at hand, its long-term effects particularly when it comes to a subsequent relationship are less known.
In a sample of 364 Portuguese adults between 18 and 62 years old, wherein 69% were women and 73% were currently in a relationship, the researchers asked the participants to complete a set of questionnaires and answer a few questions regarding their experiences with cheating behavior.
The researchers said that the questionnaires were designed to assess the respondents' sex drives and the value they place on physical attractiveness on a partner.
About 26% of the respondents said that had cheated on a romantic relationship and researchers found that these people have lower quality in their current relationship than those who had not cheated in the past.
Additionally, the researchers said that these participants also had higher sex drives. Arantes noted that this finding adds to the growing evidence that people who usually cheats tend to have higher sex drives.
Meanwhile, 44% of the participants said they have experienced being cheated on by their partner and researchers also found that these people have a lower quality of their present relationship.
The researchers noted that this finding is another evidence of previous studies that showed that those who suffered from infidelity in the past tend to cheat on a partner in the future.
Understanding Variables That Play In Romantic Relationship
According to the researchers, gender differences also emerged in their study with 39% of men admitted cheating with a partner and 20% of women also committing infidelity. Men also answered that they place physical attractiveness as a great factor in a partner, also having higher sex drives and lower quality of the current relationship.
Ultimately, the study added to the further understanding of the variables that play an important role in a romantic relationship. These variables include "perception of relationship quality, sexual desire, the importance attributed to partner's physical attractiveness, and self-perceived attractiveness," Arantes said.
The researchers noted that the findings are correlational and do not identify a causal effect on which variable affects the other. They recommend conducting future longitudinal research to shed more light on the matter.
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