Factors Influencing the Propensity to Have Extramarital Affairs
Factors influencing the propensity to have extramarital affairs
Introduction
Marriage declares a legal and socially recognized monogamous relationship between two individuals that is binding for the duration of their life together. While the expectation for marriage is that the spouse will remain faithful to only their partner, relationships (whether romantic or sexual) which develop outside the bounds of marriage constitutes infidelity and are actually not uncommon. Extramarital affairs are not considered illegal in Australia, but the actions of the infidel spouse often has detrimental impacts on the relationships and wellbeing of those around them, while also causing moral problems for society. Marital relationships and occurrences of infidelity are such commonplace that these questions of morality and wellbeing therefore warrant the economic study of their causality (Fair, 1978). Not only this, but the issue is of such interest it has captured the attention of many psychologists, economists and sociologists (Chernozhukov, Hong, p.877). On the premises mentioned above, the purpose of this econometric analysis is therefore to analyze the determinants of extramarital affairs. This study has been conducted using data from a survey by Psychology Today which involves surveying 601 individuals in the United States in 1969 (Fair, 1978).
The results from the utility model as proposed by Fair suggest that the allocation of time of a married individual is spent between their partner, work and a “non household member” (Fair, 1978). This utility model fails to include the demographic factors and many other characteristics of an individual that may act as a determinant of extramarital affairs, and this is evident in the limited nature of the study. Moreover, the analysis made by Fair included a table which only briefly explained the relationship between the demographic characteristics and the number of affairs as either ambiguous or none (Fair, 1978). While the
Introduction
Marriage declares a legal and socially recognized monogamous relationship between two individuals that is binding for the duration of their life together. While the expectation for marriage is that the spouse will remain faithful to only their partner, relationships (whether romantic or sexual) which develop outside the bounds of marriage constitutes infidelity and are actually not uncommon. Extramarital affairs are not considered illegal in Australia, but the actions of the infidel spouse often has detrimental impacts on the relationships and wellbeing of those around them, while also causing moral problems for society. Marital relationships and occurrences of infidelity are such commonplace that these questions of morality and wellbeing therefore warrant the economic study of their causality (Fair, 1978). Not only this, but the issue is of such interest it has captured the attention of many psychologists, economists and sociologists (Chernozhukov, Hong, p.877). On the premises mentioned above, the purpose of this econometric analysis is therefore to analyze the determinants of extramarital affairs. This study has been conducted using data from a survey by Psychology Today which involves surveying 601 individuals in the United States in 1969 (Fair, 1978).
The results from the utility model as proposed by Fair suggest that the allocation of time of a married individual is spent between their partner, work and a “non household member” (Fair, 1978). This utility model fails to include the demographic factors and many other characteristics of an individual that may act as a determinant of extramarital affairs, and this is evident in the limited nature of the study. Moreover, the analysis made by Fair included a table which only briefly explained the relationship between the demographic characteristics and the number of affairs as either ambiguous or none (Fair, 1978). While the
References: Fair, Ray C, 1978, "A Theory of Extramarital Affairs." Journal of Political Economy 86, no.1: p. 45-61 Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 2009, Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach, 4th Edition, South-Western Cengage Learning, United States of America Stata output: White test: F = 29.08 (p-val = 0.0000), LM = 53.27 (p-val = 0.0000).