Sure, it may seem like infidelity is a guy thing. But according to research from the Archives of Sexual Behavior, women are just about as guilty of straying, and in fact, we’re cheating more than ever.
Researchers had 918 men and women fill out an online questionnaire on whether or not they’ve cheated on their partners and why they did it. The results: 19 percent of women admitted to straying outside their relationship—that’s up 5 percentage points from the National Science Foundation’s General Social Survey in 2010. Men aren’t much better: 23 percent of them reported cheating, up 4 percent since 2010.
While men still outpace women, it’s alarming to see these numbers on the rise for both sexes. According to Sheri Meyers, Psy.D., a marriage & family therapist and author of Chatting or Cheating: How to Detect Infidelity, Rebuild Love, and Affair-Proof Your Relationship, it’s not just attractive men that lure us from our relationships, but rather, it’s relationship discontent that leads us to stray. In fact, Meyers says the most common reasons for infidelity are feeling lonely and disconnected from your partner; lack of communication; love and attention deficit; boredom; a sexual disconnect; or lack of intimacy. (Read more about why men and women cheat.)
And it doesn’t help that a new study published in the journal Hormones and Behavior found that certain points in our cycles make us even more likely to doubt the dude we’re dating—particularly if he’s not over-the-top sexy. In the study, women were significantly more likely to find fault with their partners and feel less close to them during the high-fertility period than the low-fertility period of their cycles.
So what should you do if (or perhaps, when) the grass looks greener on the other side? Put that temptation to rest with these ways to prevent cheating.
More from WH:
The New Adulteress
One Guy Spills: “Why I’ve Stayed Loyal for 23 Years”
The Number 1 Way to Build a Better Relationship
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