Differences in self-esteem among individuals with various experiences of infidelity

Abstract

Problems connected with infidelity are frequently experienced in couple relationships. The causes leading to infidelity are complex and varied. They generally consist of a mixture of personal, interpersonal and social factors. In our study, we were interested in investigating the existence of differences among individuals, who had experienced infi­delity in a relationship. A total of 296 participants took part in the study, 76% of which were female and 24% were male. The average age of the participants was 29 years. Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965 in Zeigler-Hill, 2006). The results revealed a statistically significant difference in the lev­els of self-esteem. People who have not experienced infidelity have on average shown higher self-esteem than those individuals who had been unfaithful. From our findings we can gather that low self-esteem can be a factor that leads to infidelity in a relation­ship. It can also be a consequence of infidelity or even both of these things.