Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Burning The Candle At Both Ends: Extramarital Sex As A Precursor Of Marital Disruption, Alfred Demaris

Sociology Faculty Publications

This study examines several aspects of the association between engaging in extramarital sex and the disruption of one’s marriage. Panel data on 1621 respondents followed from 1980 – 2000 in the Marital Instability Over the Life Course survey were utilized to answer these questions. Interval-censored Cox regression analysis revealed several noteworthy findings. As previously found in earlier analyses with these data, reports of problems due to extramarital involvement were strongly related to marital disruption, even holding constant the quality of the marriage. Although men were about three times more likely to be the cheating spouse, there was no difference in …