SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INFIDELITY IN THE FIRST YEAR OF MARRIAGE

Infidelity is a major cause of divorce and spousal battering. Little i s known, however, about which individuals are susceptible to infidelit y, or about the relationship contexts that promote infidelity. This st udy of 107 married couples examines three sets of possible predictors of infidelity: Personality factors such as narcissism and conscientiou sness; relationship contexts, including recurrent sources of conflict and sexual satisfaction; and the relative ''mate value'' of the indivi duals composing a couple. We obtained self-report and spouse-report da ta on susceptibility to infidelity. We obtained self-report, spouse-re port, and interviewer-report data on personality, relationship context , and relative mate value. Personality factors most strongly linked to susceptibility to infidelity were low Conscientiousness, high Narciss ism, and high Psychoticism. Relationship contexts most strongly linked to susceptibility to infidelity include sexual dissatisfaction, and s pecific sources of conflict such as partner complaints about jealousy. Discussion addresses limitations of this study and directions for fut ure research on predicting infidelity. (C) 1997 Academic Press.