Staying with a Partner Who Cheats: the Influence of Gender and Relationship Dynamics on Adolescents’ Tolerance of Infidelity
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STAYING WITH A PARTNER WHO CHEATS: THE INFLUENCE OF GENDER AND RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS ON ADOLESCENTS’ TOLERANCE OF INFIDELITY Christine M. Flanigan A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2007 Committee: Wendy Manning, Advisor Peggy Giordano Monica Longmore ii ABSTRACT Wendy Manning, Advisor Teens and young adults in the United States have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections than do older adults, and female adolescents generally have higher rates than same-age males. Some existing literature, often based on an evolutionary psychological approach, suggests that females may be more likely to tolerate sexual infidelity, a potential explanation for gender differences in STI rates. This paper uses data from wave 3 of the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (n=583) to explore the association of sexual infidelity with the breakup of adolescents’ dating relationships. Specifically, this study addresses three questions: first, are young women more likely than young men to remain in a relationship that is not sexually exclusive? Second, do the qualities of these dating relationships (e.g., commitment, conflict, etc.) influence the relationship between infidelity and break-up, and explain any gender differences if found? Third, does infidelity have the same relationship with break-up when the couple does not expect fidelity? Logistic regression is used to predict the break-up of adolescents’ most recent dating relationship based on the occurrence of infidelity, relationship qualities, and demographic controls such as gender. Results indicate that partner’s cheating is associated with higher odds of breaking up and there is no gender difference in breakup when a partner cheats. Relationship qualities predict breakup, but they do not mediate the associations between infidelity and breakup. Couples without expectations for fidelity are more likely to end their relationships. The effects of partner cheating significantly differ according to fidelity expectations. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I’d like to thank my committee, Wendy Manning, Peggy Giordano, and Monica Longmore, for giving me such helpful feedback, for providing encouragement, and for collecting such great data. Also, thanks to Al DeMaris for providing feedback on an early draft of this thesis. I’d like to thank my former colleagues at the National Campaign, particularly Sarah Brown and Cindy Costello, and members of the Campaign’s Research Task Force, for exposing me to the research process and encouraging me to continue with my education. Finally, I’d like to thank my family, friends, and fellow sociology graduate students for their support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I. BACKGROUND............................................................................................ 4 Prevalence of and Attitudes Toward Infidelity.......................................................... 4 Gender Differences in Reactions to Infidelity ........................................................... 5 Other Demographic and Individual Antecedents of Infidelity and Breakup ............. 11 Relationship Qualities, Infidelity, and Breakup......................................................... 12 CHAPTER II. CURRENT INVESTIGATION .................................................................... 17 CHAPTER III. DATA .......................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER IV. MEASURES................................................................................................ 21 Dependent Variable................................................................................................... 21 Focal Independent Variables...................................................................................... 22 Independent Variables Related to the Relationship................................................... 23 Demographic Control Variables ................................................................................ 26 CHAPTER V. ANALYTIC STRATEGY ............................................................................ 29 CHAPTER VI. RESULTS.................................................................................................... 30 Descriptive Statistics.................................................................................................. 30 Regression Results..................................................................................................... 33 Additional Analyses................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER VII. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 43 SOURCES.............................................................................................................................. 47 APPENDIX A. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN RELATIONSHIP QUALITIES............... 56 v LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES Figure/Table Page 1 Descriptive Statistics, Respondents and Their Most Recent Dating Relationships, Sexually Active Relationships Only, Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), Wave 3 ....................................................................................................................... 32 2 Logistic Regression of Whether Most Recent Dating Relationship Has Ended (vs. is Current), Only Relationships That Included Vaginal Sex, Wave 3 TARS................ 35 3 Logistic Regression of Whether Most Recent Dating Relationship Has Ended (vs. is Current), Only Relationships That Included Vaginal Sex, Wave 3 TARS................ 38 4 Correlations Between Relationship Qualities ............................................................ 56 1 INTRODUCTION Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) pose a serious problem for young people in the United States. STI rates in the U.S. are quite high compared to other developed nations (e.g., Panchaud, Singh, Feivelson, & Darroch, 2000), with a third of young adults contracting an STI by age 24 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1998). STIs cause a variety of health problems in both the infected person and in infants of women who had an STI during pregnancy. Notably, transmission of HIV can occur through sexual activity, and being infected with other STIs increases the likelihood of acquiring HIV from an infected partner (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1998). STI rates are generally high for females relative to same-aged males. For example, in 2005 there were 505 reported Chlamydia cases per 100,000 males aged 15-19, while the comparable statistic for females aged 15-19 was 2,797 per 100,000. Likewise, 2005 gonorrhea rates for youth aged 15-19 were 261 per 100,000 for males and 625 per 100,000 for females (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006). There are many reasons why young women might have higher STI rates than young men. From a biological standpoint females are more susceptible to STI infection (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2001), and female teens are more likely than male teens to have older sexual partners (Abma & Sonenstein, 2001), which is a known risk factor for STI infection (Ford & Lepkowski, 2004). In addition, studies generally find lower rates of condom use among young women compared to young men: for example, according to the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, only 31% of never- married, sexually experienced females aged 15-24 used condoms every time they had sex in the past 12 months; the comparable statistic for males was 48% (Abma, Martinez, Mosher, & Dawson, 2004). 2 However, gender differences in behavior related to sexual exclusivity may also play a part in disparities in STI rates. For example, Eyre and colleagues (1998) found that in cases where infidelity occurred, teen boys were more likely to break off the relationship, while teen girls were more likely to stay in the relationship but withdraw trust, talk about the partner to others behind his back, or withhold sex for a time as a punishment. For females, greater tolerance of infidelity may lead to an increased exposure to STIs acquired from their partners’ extrarelational sex partners, especially if consistent condom use is lower in these relationships. Eyre et al.’s findings are consistent with a body of literature that takes a biological/evolutionary stance on gender differences in reactions to infidelity, but there are also a number of studies that find no gender differences in tolerance of partner’s sexual nonexclusivity. Much of this literature, however, deals with reactions to a hypothetical case of infidelity instead of with youths’ actual experiences, and many of the samples involved are nonrepresentative. This paper uses data from the Toledo Area Relationships Study (TARS) to examine whether or not male and female adolescents vary in their willingness to remain in a relationship where sexual nonexclusivity has occurred. In addition to providing results from a randomly selected, more representative sample that includes in- and out-of-school youth, this study adds to the literature by including measures of various qualities of the adolescents’ relationships, which may affect both the likelihood of cheating and respondents’ reactions to it, and which have generally not been included in past research on infidelity. Furthermore, the TARS data