Economic dependence and cheating: a study reveals a possible correlation

A few years ago, on the site of ASA (American Sociological Association) was written up an article concerning a possible correlation between economic dependence on one’s partner and a large number of cheating cases.

In the article, the US sociologist Christin L. Munsch, a researcher who spent a long time studying the phenomenon, expressed these words: “You would think that people would not want to bite the hand that feeds them so to speak, but that is not what my research shows…”. Thus continuing: “…in an average year, there is about a 5% chance that women who are completely economically dependent on their husbands will cheat, whereas there is about a 15% chance that men who are entirely economically dependent on their wives will have an affair… Extramarital sex allows men undergoing a masculinity threat to engage in behavior culturally associated with masculinity… Futhermore there appears to be something that makes men who are not primary breadwinners even more prone to cheating compared to women who are not primary breadwinners”.

According to Munsch, unfaithfulness would therefore represent a way to restore threatened masculinity by establishing an unconscious mechanism able to distance the partner who earns more. Could it be true?

In our opinion, the mentioned research can help to shed light on the causes, but certainly they aren’t enough to dispel certain doubts about cheating. In fact, the mistake is often made because we use to focus more on the underlying psychological motivations than on the facts. That’s why sometimes the hiring of a private investigator, or even the use of elecronic devices that can legally spy on one’s own partner, may be the most effective solution to deply.