Financially dependent partners more likely to cheat, says study

While for women the larger their percentage of the combined marital income, the less likely they are to cheat, men who are completely economically dependent on their spouses are the most likely to cheat.

If your partner is financially dependent on you, he or she is more likely to cheat on you.

The-research-says-that-contrary-to-the-belief-that-people-usually-don-t-bite-the-hand-that-feeds-them-partners-who-are-financially-dependent-on-their-partners-are-more-likely-to-cheat-on-them-Shutterstock

A research conducted by the University of Connecticut claims that financial dependence incites cheating.

Assistant Professor Christin L. Munsch says that in an average year, there's about a 5% chance that women who are economically dependent on their husbands will cheat. However, there's about 15% chance of men having an affair who were entirely economically dependent on their wives.

She adds that people usually don't bite the hand that feeds them, but the research findings, published in the American Sociological Review, indicate that they like feeling relatively equal in their relationships rather than being dependent.

The researchers also say that there are similarities in the way that men and women respond to being economically dependent and that people who are primary breadwinners in their marriages behave very differently. For women the larger their percentage of the combined marital income, the less likely they are to cheat.

But among men, those who are completely economically dependent on their spouses are the most likely to cheat, and as the money men make relative to their spouses increases their odds of committing adultery decreases.

Men are least likely to cheat when they bring home 70% of a couple's total income. After 70%, however, men become increasingly more likely to stray.

Munsch said that the increase in the likelihood of men engaging in infidelity that occurs as they make significantly more than their wives is relatively small compared to the increase in the likelihood of cheating that takes place among men as they become more economically dependent.