The 6 Main Reasons People Cheat

Who is not familiar with the words “adultery,” “infidelity,” and “cheating”? Everybody who has been in a relationship knows them too well. But, a majority of us might not know the answer to the question, “Why do partners cheat?”  

Have you read Susan Sheppard’s book, “How to Get What You Want from Your Man Anytime”? In this book, she has made the startling observation that nearly 80 percent of American marriages are infected with infidelity. So, that proves that cheating is a common phenomenon. In fact, cheating is as old as relationships themselves. In other words, cheating is one of the myriad aspects of a relationship. 

But why do men and women cheat? Isn’t it easier to be faithful to one partner instead of messing things up by moving around with too many? A few decades back, we could safely say that while men cheated for sexual thrills, women cheated for more satisfying relationships. Modern research has shown that owing to the rapid dissolution of traditional gender roles, this need not hold true at present. 

Men and women have different reasons for cheating. Here are some of the common reasons for cheating.  

1. Unhappiness and Hopelessness 

Cheating partners usually feel unhappy and lonely in their relationships. They feel that their needs are not being met. The emotional emptiness drives them into the arms of another person. 

People who are unhappy with their spouses or partners usually confide their woes in a friend or a coworker of the opposite sex. This leads to physical attraction, which leads to flirtation, and later a full-blown illicit relationship.  

2. Sexual Incompatibility 

Both men and women might find sex with the same partner boring. Their craving for sexual diversity and adventure might drive them to seek an illicit relationship. Research has shown that women as well as men love the thrill of sexually conquering a younger, more attractive person. 

3. Revenge 

People who have caught a cheating partner decide to take revenge by doing the same. Jilted partners decide that the best way to teach their cheating partners a lesson is to have an illicit affair themselves. Usually, they choose the cheating spouse’s close friend or relative to have an affair with.  

4. Relationships Ridden with Conflicts 

Are you constantly battling with your partner? There may be many reasons for the domestic strife, such as managing finances, raising children, religious beliefs, career changes, interfering in-laws, and so on and so forth.  

Partners who are tired of the lack of domestic peace might try to seek “peace” in somebody else’s company. While this doesn’t solve their domestic problems, it at least acts as a boost to their damaged ego and self-esteem. 

5. Craving for Excitement 

Couples do feel bored with the same person and the same monotonous life. They crave the thrill and challenge of a new relationship. This happens if the partners are in their middle age. They might be eager to recapture the sweetness of a lost youth. When couples feel like this, it is easy to get entangled in an extra marital affair, which acts as a great ego booster. 

6. Born Cheats 

Some people are born cheats. They don’t find anything wrong with cheating, which is embedded into their natures. For them, life is incomplete without the thrill of cheating. Some of them may even feel that it is their fundamental right to have as many partners as they can. 

Unless you are a born cheat, cheating can be extremely stressful. When you cheat on your partner, you lead a double life. You have to maintain a relationship with your lover. At the same time, you have to pretend that you still belong 100 percent to your spouse. Cheating partners therefore suffer from a lot of guilt, which leads to irritability, self-loathing, depression, and unhappiness. You need to be an exceptional character to successfully cheat your partner.