PH
Cheating isn't explained by a single personality trait or relationship problem.
A study of people in exclusive dating relationships examined several factors associated with extradyadic involvement.
For both women and men, lower relationship satisfaction and lower commitment were associated with greater involvement outside the relationship.
More accepting attitudes toward infidelity and perceptions of attractive alternatives were also relevant.
This doesn't mean an unhappy relationship causes cheating or excuses it.
Many dissatisfied people never cheat.
But infidelity risk can involve the state of the existing relationship as well as opportunities outside it.
© Archives of Sexual Behavior (2016)