This is the real reason people cheat on their partners, according to science

New research into the reasons behind people cheating on their partners has revealed some interesting, if rather predictable, results.

A study conducted by The Journal of Sex Researchhas found that a lack of love from their current partner led them to find love elsewhere.

The research was conducted through an online questionnaire, where 495 adults with an average age of 20, who were known to have cheated were quizzed on their infidelity.

As we already mentioned, the top reason given by 77 per cent those surveyed was "lack of love".

According to Bustle, those who gave that reason explicitly stated that they "had fallen out of love with my primary partner" or at least hinted at it.

Speaking to Bustle, relationship expert Chelsea Leight Trescott said:

While the guttural reaction to being cheated on is often that the person cheating has fallen out of love, the more accurate reasoning is that the person cheating no longer feels loved by his or her partner.

Other top reasons given for cheating included; wanting more sexual partners (74 per cent), neglected by current partner (70 per cent), drunk or not thinking clearly (70 per cent), boost their own self-esteem (57 per cent), anger (43 per cent) and feeling unattached (41 per cent).

In addition to this, a third of the people questioned admitted that they cheated purely because they just wanted to have sex.

The study also discovered that men were more likely to cheat in order to have a variety of partners and due to situational reasons.

In contrast, women primarily wanted to cheat because they felt ignored and no longer loved by their other half.

Interestingly, they also learned that certain personality types and people witch specific beliefs were likely to cheat for different reasons.

The authors of the study Dylan Selterman, Justin R. Garcia and Irene Tsapelas noted:

Our results also show personality correlates with infidelity motivations.

Consistent with predictions, attachment insecurity was associated with motivations of anger, lack of love, neglect, low commitment, and esteem, while unrestricted sociosexual orientation was associated with sexual variety. 

Implicit beliefs (e.g growth, destiny, romanticism)  were differentially associated with sexual desire, low commitment, lack of love, and neglect.

Previous studies from the same journal have yielded similar results.

A study of 104 men and women from July last year found that one of the main reasons for infidelity was a lack of investment or "interdependence" from their partner.

Another study looked at why individuals had decided to avoid infidelity and the biggest reason given was fear of ending up alone and their own morality.

HT IFL Science

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