Reader Question: “Why Do People Cheat?”

Hi LoveLearnings,

I want to ask the age-old question — why do people cheat? Is monogamy dead? It just seems like more and more people are not staying faithful everyday. It really makes me think ill of the human race!

Shauna Houston
Tucson, Arizona

Let me start off by saying that men and women cheat for different reasons — and this has been proven scientifically.

The stereotypes hold true; men often cheat for the sheer physical pleasure of it while women yearn for a deeper emotional connection.

In a survey conducted by a well-known dating website, of women who cheated, 57 percent of them stated they felt legitimate love for their extramarital partner. For men, it was around 25 percent.

Lacking Something in Their Relationship

However, clearly, both sexes cheat because of a deficiency in the relationship. In the same poll, women stated the reason why they cheated was because their husbands weren’t fulfilling them emotionally (whether it be because they don’t get enough attention, or that their husbands were not romantic enough anymore).

For men, however, the reasons varied significantly. Many male participants did state that they did not have a deep connection with their extramarital partners, while the women stated very close connections with their paramours.

However, for most of the participants that have cheated, all of them said that they experienced a sense of unhappiness in their marriage.

Infidelity can happen to anyone and at any time. The best thing to do is to educate yourself about infidelity. You need to know how to detect if infidelity is happening to you.

And, if you find out if your partner is cheating on you, you need to find ways to short-circuit the affair and get your relationship back on track (or move on).

Brad Browning

Brad Browning is widely regarded as the world's most trusted breakup experts, boasting over 12 years of experience working with clients from around the world. Brad's #1 best-selling breakup reversal guide, The Ex Factor, has helped more than 130,000 people from 131 countries to re-unite with an ex. Brad is also the author of Mend The Marriage, a comprehensive self-help guide that teaches married couples how to save their dying marriage and prevent divorce. Brad’s YouTube channel has over 400,000 subscribers and 50 million views, and he has been featured in a number of well-known media outlets and industry journals.