London - Men who are financially dependent on their spouses are more likely to be unfaithful, research has found.
And the greater the earning gap, the more likely they are to have an affair – with those who rely on their wives for all their income the biggest cheats.
In contrast, those high-earning women are the least likely of all to stray.
The researchers say that a man who is greatly out-earned by his wife may have affairs as a way of proving his masculinity. In contrast, a woman who is the main breadwinner may make extra effort to keep her marriage on track.
The findings come from the results of a US survey of more than 2 750 young married people. It revealed that both sexes are more likely to cheat on their spouses the more economically dependent they become on them.
However, a househusband has far greater odds of having an affair than a stay-at-home wife. In the average year, there is a five percent chance that such a woman will cheat – compared with the 15 percent chance that her male equivalent will be unfaithful.
University of Connecticut researcher Christine Munsch said: “Extramarital sex allows men undergoing a masculinity threat – that is not being primary breadwinners, as is culturally expected – to engage in behaviour culturally associated with masculinity.”
However, it is not just lack of earnings that gives a man a roving eye.
A man who vastly out-earns his wife is more likely to have an affair than one in which the income is more equally earned.
Dr Munsch said: “These men are aware that their wives are truly dependent and may think that, as a result, their wives will not leave them even if they cheat.”
Overall, a man is least likely to cheat when he brings home 70 percent of a couple’s combined income – meaning he earns roughly twice as much as his wife, the American Sociological Review reports. In such a situation the chance of him cheating is just three percent.
Daily Mail