The Relationship between Sexual and Emotional Promiscuity and Infidelity

Abstract

The main aim of the present study is to relate, for the first time, the sexual and emotional sides of infidelity, that is characterized by any form of close physical or emotional involvement with another person while in a committed relationship with promiscuity, which is typically defined by the search for the maximum sexual pleasure or how easily and often someone falls in love. Another aim was to investigate potential sex differences within both domains. For that, 369 participants (92 males and 277 females) answered to an online questionnaire that collected information about infidelity and promiscuity. More specifically, participants were asked to complete the revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R), the Emotional Promiscuity (EP) Scale, and the Sexual and Emotional Infidelity (SEI) scale. In addition, some sociodemographic questions, as well as history of infidelity questions, were also asked. The analyses included Pearson correlations, ANOVA and t-tests. Results show that all domains are related, specifically sexual and emotional infidelity with sexual and emotional promiscuity.