It was recently reported in a survey by the National Opinion Research Center that women are statistically catching up to men with it comes to being unfaithful to their spouses.
For the past twenty years, the number of men who admit to cheating has remained at approximately 21 percent. But in that same two decade period, the number of women who admitted cheated increased by almost 40 percent. In 2010, 14.7 percent of women admitted to cheating on their spouse.
The Center’s General Social Survey has been going on for forty years and is considered the “oldest continuous source of American behavior.”
According to sociologist experts, the increase in women’s infidelity is due to changes in other societal trends. More women work outside the home and are in a better able to financially support themselves if they divorce.
Another change is social media and the Internet, which has made it much easier for both men and women to cheat. The Internet not only offers online dating sites, but there are also many extramarital meet-up sites. One of those site highlighted in the Bloomberg article reveals a trend in the site’s membership age ranges that reflect the trend in society – the numbers of men and women cheaters is almost even.
Noel Biderman, CEO of the site Ashley Madison, provided these statistics:
- Among the site’s members older than 65, there are 14 men for every one woman.
- Among members in their fifties, the ratio is four men for every one woman.
- Members in their forties have a ratio of three men for every one woman.
- Members in their thirties are evenly divided.
The survey also revealed that executives, managers, people of color and Southerners were more apt to commit adultery. More than half the women and about 25 percent of the men say they cheated because they were unhappy in their marriage.
If your spouse has cheated on you and you are considering a divorce, contact a skilled Wheaton family law attorney to answer questions you have about what options you may have.
