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...Exclusive relationships constitute societal in many countries, including Australia (de Vaus, 1997), America (Treas Giesen, 2000; Wiederman & Hurd, 1999), Spain (de Roda, Martinez-Inigo, de Paul, & Yela, 1999) and Britain (Wellings, Field, Johnson, & Wadsworth, 1994). Furthermore, the exclusivity norm has been found to predominate in married, cohabiting, and dating couples (Treas & Giesen, 2000).
Research investigating infidelity has traditionally focused on the extradyadic involvement of married individuals. However, dating and cohabiting couples have begun to be investigated recently. In their pioneering study of dating infidelity, Roscoe, Cavanaugh, and Kennedy (1988) required older adolescents to report their perceptions of behaviours that constitute infidelity during dating, and the consequences they anticipate might arise from unfaithfulness. Young adults reported that dating infidelity comprised both extradyadic kissing and extradyadic sexual intercourse. This finding is congruent with previous findings that extra-marital infidelity comprises extradyadic activities spanning a continuum of sexual behaviours (Buunk, 1980; Edwards, 1973), and establishes a basis for comparisons between dating infidelity and extra-marital infidelity. The consequences of sexual infidelity for the dyad are also comparable across relationship contexts. Spousal unfaithfulness often results in separation or divorce (Buunk, 1980), while dating infidelity most frequently results in relationship termination (Roscoe et al., 1988).
The present study aims to determine precursors to extradyadic activity for individuals who are involved in exclusive dating relationships, since individuals involved in non-exclusive relationships cannot break a commitment to exclusivity, where such a commitment does not exist.
Theoretical framework
Perhaps the most appropriate theoretical model for prediction of dating infidelity is the investment model (Rusbult, 1980, 1983). Unlike various other approaches (e.g. equity theory, evolutionary theory), the investment model provides a broad framework that accommodates links between a variety of variables (Drigotas, Safstrom, & Gentilia, 1999). The bases of dependence are satisfaction, quality of alternatives (i.e. the apparent appeal of the best alternative to the relationship), and investment size. Commitment to the relationship is seen as emerging as a consequence of dependence (Rusbult, 1980; Rusbult & van Lange, 1996).
Kelley et al. (1983) extended the investment model by proposing that factors that affect either partner or their environment may be expected to impact on the relationship. The broader model incorporates person factors (P) such as attitudes and personality, relationship factors (R) such as commitment and satisfaction, and environment factors (E), including quality of alternatives and opportunities for undetected extradyadic activity. To the best of our knowledge, no study of dating infidelity has employed a multi-perspective model that incorporates variables from all three categories.
Person (P) variables
Despite reporting negative attitudes towards extradyadic activity, a majority of people actually engage in acts of infidelity (Drigotas et al., 1999). Impulsivity does not appear to have been investigated in relation to infidelity, although it is widely seen as a predictor of maladaptive behaviours (e.g. Levine & Jackson, 2004) and as a basis for personality in general (Jackson, 2003; Jackson & Francis, 2004; Jackson & Smillie, 2004). Dysfunctional impulsivity can be distinguished from functional impulsivity (Dickman, 1990). We predict that a maladaptive lack of forethought will predict extradyadic activity even when individuals report non-acceptance of the behaviour. Moreover, it is anticipated that functional impulsivity, which involves little forethought in situations where such a style will initiate favourable outcomes (Dickman, 1990), will not predict infidelity.
Much of the infidelity literature has investigated sex-related attitudes, such as the extent to which individuals hold a cognitive association of sex, love, and marriage as experiences that belong together (e.g. Weiss, Slosnerick, Cate, & Sollie, 1986; Wiederman & Hurd, 1999). The sex-love-marriage association is measured using the sex-love-marriage (SLM) scale (Weiss et al., 1986), and has demonstrated significant negative correlations with measures of infidelity. For example, undergraduate university students who dissociate sex, love, and marriage have been found to have a history of extradyadic sexual intercourse (Weiss et al., 1986) and to be more likely to accept hypothetical extra-marital sexual activities (Weiss et al., 1986; Weiss & Slosnerick, 1981). However, recent research found that university students with high and low sex-love-marriage scores reported equally extensive histories of engaging in extradyadic sexual activities while dating (Wiederman & Hurd, 1999). This result constitutes an attitude-behaviour discrepancy comparable to those observed with measures of acceptance of extradyadic activity, discussed previously. If attitude-behaviour discrepancies are the result of participants' lack of self-control (i.e. impulsivity) as proposed, the effect of sex-love-marriage may depend on participants' levels of impulsivity. Therefore, the present study will consider sex-love-marriage, impulsivity, and the potential interaction between them, as possible predictors of extradyadic inclination.
Other person variables of interest include age and gender. Previous studies have reported that age is not a significant predictor of infidelity during dating (Wiederman & Hurd, 1999) or marriage (Buss & Shackelford, 1997; Thompson, 1983). However, age is used as a control variable in the present study to ensure that time- or age-related measures, for example, relationship duration, are not contaminated by its covariance.
Gender has been found to relate significantly to measures of infidelity. It has been found that male college students report a significantly greater incidence of prior extradyadic sexual activities than females (Hansen, 1987; Wiederman & Hurd, 1999). The gender difference detected in Hansen's (1987) study held for all measured extradyadic activities; that is, erotic kissing, petting, and vaginal intercourse, whereas Wiederman and Hurd (1999) found that the incidence of 'extradyadic romantic kissing' was exempt from gender effects. Despite this slight inconsistency, the findings suggest that, among dating individuals, gender influences engagement in a variety of extradyadic sexual activities.
Interpersonal differences in sexual history have also been investigated as correlates of infidelity. In an American study sampling married and cohabiting adults, individuals' self-reported cumulative incidence of extradyadic sex was found to be significantly predicted by the number of previous sexual partners (Treas & Giesen, 2000). The authors argued that individuals who are more sexually experienced can be expected to show a higher likelihood of engaging in extradyadic sex due to their 'learned advantage'; that is, extensive sexual experience may mean the individual is more skilled in the recognition of sexual advances and recruitment of sex partners. It is therefore speculated that an inclination towards dating infidelity may be related to an individual's number of sexual partners. Although for some individuals, their number of sexual partners may be strongly related to the age at which they experienced their first sexual encounter, both variables were included in the present study to assess whether extradyadic inclination appears to relate to a learned advantage or an orientation towards sexual experimentation, or possibly both. A tendency towards sexual experimentation is said to be reflected by earlier sexual experience (Reiss, Anderson, & Sponaugle, 1980). This variable has not previously been investigated as a correlate of dating infidelity.
Environment (E) variables
The further variable included in the investment model prediction of dating infidelity investigated by Drigotas et al. (1999) was the quality of relationship alternatives. Quality of alternatives was found to have a significant positive correlation with extradyadic physical intimacy (Drigotas et al., 1999). This result is consistent with the finding that older adolescents nominated attraction to someone other than the established partner as one of the reasons why unfaithfulness may occur in dating relationships (Roscoe et al., 1988).
Relationship (R) variables
Research into dating infidelity has not specifically assessed relationship duration as a predictor of extradyadic activity. However, in a sample of university staff and students, fantasies about extradyadic sexual involvement were found to show a significant positive association with relationship duration (Hicks & Leitenberg, 2001). Furthermore, married and cohabiting adults whose relationships are of longer duration report a significantly greater incidence of previous infidelities (Treas & Giesen, 2000). This finding was explained in terms of habituation, where the likelihood of infidelity will increase over time due to decreased marital benefits; for example, reduced frequency of sexual intercourse. These findings provide a rationale for investigating relationship duration as a predictor of dating infidelity; however, the effects of relationship duration are not necessarily expected to operate in the same direction as for married individuals. Application of the habituation hypothesis to married couples (Treas & Giesen,...
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