Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding Author: Marin R. Copeland St. Extradyadic sex EDS is a major relationship violation, yet it occurs in nearly a quarter of U.
While many relationships dissolve in the wake of EDS, a majority remain intact. Theories of social stress suggest that substantial psychological distress should result unless EDS is a symptom of stress caused by involvement in a relationship marked by other negative characteristics. Americans strongly value sexual fidelity within committed relationships.
Infidelity topped the list of morally unacceptable activities according to estimates from a recent Gallup poll. Theory regarding stress and stressful life events suggests that EDS should lead to internalizing and externalizing behavior among individuals who are unfaithful because of either the stress of concealing infidelity, guilt about engaging in EDS, or the stress caused by the relationship strain that occurs when partners discover the transgression Allen et al.
Yet, it is also possible that infidelity is a symptom of relationship problems and that the associations between EDS and internalizing and externalizing behavior is spurious.
We analyze data from a sample of 24—32 year old men and women who were currently married or cohabiting when they participated in Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Add Health. A strength of our study is that our data source includes indicators of previous psychological distress, previous heaving drinking, and background characteristics that may select individuals into marital and cohabiting unions where one or both partners participated in EDS.
