Why People Cheat in Relationships

An affair is seldom the result of one single cause. Why people cheat depends on their personality, background, family history, and lifestyle. Here are the most common reasons for cheating in a relationship…

An affair can be:

• The result of anger towards the partner
• An attempt to find intimacy, excitement, or passion that’s lacking in the marriage
• The result of a fear of intimacy in marriage
• An attempt to find a way out of an unhappy relationship
• The result of a fear of getting older
• The consequence of growing up in a family in which cheating was “normal”
• A result of addiction issues
• An effort to fix the marriage

If you have experienced cheating in your relationship and you don’t know if you should try to save it, read When to End a Relationship. It might help you see your marriage or partner more clearly, which can help you decide if the affair is the end of your relationship.

The Most Common Times People Cheat

Knowing when people – both husbands and wives, men and women – are most likely to cheat can help you understand why affairs happen. This is good for both prevention and understanding why people cheat in relationships…

Husbands and wives often cheat shortly after getting married

In Making Marriage Work for Dummies, the couple marriage counseling team Simrings say, “We know of spouses who started cheating months – even weeks after the wedding ceremony (as well as some who cheat during the engagement). People in this category often experience a kind of buyer’s remorse, a feeling that sometimes kicks in before they even walk down the aisle.” During the early stages of marriage, spouses may wonder if they made the right choice. This is a reason why people cheat in relationships: they are scared they married the wrong person.