1992/08/01 by Shirley P. Glass, Thomas L. Wright · 300 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Association (psychology) #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Developmental psychology #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior #Psychology #Psychology of Social Influence #Psychotherapist #Social psychology
paper · doi:10.1080/00224499209551654
published in The Journal of Sex Research 29(3), 361-387 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 1992/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Married persons completed anonymous questionnaires rating the extent to which they would feel justified having an extramarital relationship for 17 reasons derived from the clinical and research literatures. Men and women clustered these justifications similarly into four factors: sexual, romantic love, emotional intimacy, and extrinsic. Women approved less of sexual justifications and more of love justifications. Attitude‐behavior congruence was demonstrated in the link between sexual justification and sexual involvement for both sexes and in the link between love justifications and emotional involvement for men. The data supported the observation that men separate sex and love; women appear to believe that love and sex go together and that falling in love justifies sexual involvement. Clinical implications include the importance of understanding the extramarital attitudes as cognitions and thresholds related to extramarital behavior. Research implications include the importance of assessing specific reasons including emotional justifications, assessing emotional involvement and sexual involvement, and analyzing for gender differences.