New research into male infidelity has produced an intriguing finding that comes with a big but. (Pun intended, not delivered.)
In Men more likely to cheat if they are economically dependent on their female partners we learn -
[M]en who were completely dependent on their female partner’s income were five times more likely to cheat than men who contributed an equal amount of money to the partnership.
An interesting statistical correlation. Yet in the very next sentence we run smack into a huge but . . .
The relationship between economic dependence and infidelity disappeared when age, education level, income, religious attendance, and relationship satisfaction were taken into account.
Yowza. The touted relationship between economic dependence and infidelity disappeared when other variables were controlled for! So it may be only superficially true that the two are related.
About those other variables, study author Christin Munsch said this -
“One or more of these variables is impacting the relationship.”
Which one? Unknown at this point.
Unfornately, many readers don’t get into the “fine print” of the actual body of an article. They like to stick to the big font headline for their info. And that’s a problem. I can already hear the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the actual scientific findings already . . . groan.
The research did yield these other noteworthy findings -
An average of approximately 3.8% of male partners and 1.4% of female partners cheated in any given year during the six-year period studied.
That’s a lot less than I would have expected. Interesting
Ironically, men who make significantly more than their female partners were also more likely to cheat.
Again, is money/income truly the issue here, or only superficially so?
The study also found that women who were financially dependent on their male partners were less likely to cheat than women who made the same as or more than their male partners.
These study results are certainly thought-provoking. As a critical thinker, however, I’d refrain from buying into elaborate speculations as to why the results were as they were. There are just too many buts involved.
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Tags: critical thinking, gender, sexuality
August 20th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
“An average of approximately 3.8% of male partners and 1.4% of female partners cheated in any given year during the six-year period studied.”
These always tickle me. Whenever one of these is published, the reports always have to note that the results are–so far, at least, and thank goodness for that!–based on self-report. With numbers this small(and I’ve never seen the numbers this small), it’s hard to give these results any credence at all. BIG buts in there somewhere!
August 21st, 2010 at 8:07 am
Excellent points, Nance!