Who’s cheating? 5 findings on infidelity

Ever wondered how common infidelity is and who’s actually cheating on their spouse?

Wendy Wang, director of research for the Institute for Family Studies, used data about men and women ages 25 to 54 from the General Social Survey to try to answer that question for an institute blog.

The age range, she wrote, was picked because that’s when labor force participation is at its highest rate. Then she combined the data in each decade to see the general trend.

Here are five findings about infidelity in the U.S.

1. Infidelity for men has been decreasing, but not for women. Infidelity has dropped from 21% of men in the 1990s to 11% in 2021-2022, the most recent time period with good data. On the other hand, infidelity among women has been pretty stable at 14% during that time span, though there was a slight drop in the 2010s that has since come back up.
2. Who actually cheats is a bit contradictory. Two very different groups of men are more likely to cheat than others: Those with prestigious jobs (18%) and those without jobs (20%). For women, infidelity is highest among those in low-prestige occupations (21%). Women in high-prestige jobs are the least likely to cheat (9%).
3. Men and women are similarly prone to infidelity. For men, that’s about 11%. For women, 14% say they have had a sexual relationship with someone other than a spouse while married. But the difference, Wang reported, is not statistically significant.
4. Education and religion have an impact. College grads are less apt to cheat than others, at 10% vs. 15% for those with less education. Those who attend religious services regularly are also less apt to cheat, at 8% vs. 18% for those who attend services less often.
5. Infidelity makes divorce much more likely. Among those who are divorced or separated, Wang found that over half (52%) had cheated on a spouse, compared to 15% who never cheated. Among women, 58% of those who are divorced or separated had cheated, while it was 45% of men. Wrote Wang, “Previous research based on a sample of undergraduate students suggests that men find it more difficult to forgive sexual infidelity, and they are more likely than women to end a relationship following a partner’s cheating. If this holds true within marriage, then when a woman cheats, the marriage is less likely to survive."