Dating, marital, and hypothetical extradyadic involvements: how do they compare?

In general, most people express beliefs that relationship partners should be faithful to each other, whether in a dating or marital relationship (Sheppard, Nelson, & Andreoli-Mathie, 1995; Thornton & Young-DeMarco, 2001). However, sexual or romantic relationships outside of a primary marital or dating dyad (i.e., extradyadic involvement or EDI) occur fairly often, particularly in dating relationships (Wiederman, 1997; Wiederman & Hurd, 1999). EDI has been a focus of research interest for testing hypotheses in evolutionary psychology (e.g., Shackelford & Buss, 1996), because of the potential negative impacts on individual, relationship, and sexual health of the involved parties (Allen et al., 2005), and to further basic understanding of relationships. EDI has been studied in different populations, such as undergraduate, marital therapy, and community samples, and with different methods, such as self-reporting on actual personal experiences of EDI, predicting personal experiences of EDI, reacting to hypothetical EDI vignettes, and, in one study, testing actual behavior (Seal, Agostinelli, & Hannett, 1994). However, it is rare to find direct comparisons regarding these different populations or methods of studying EDI. This study explored the similarities and differences in descriptions of EDI from undergraduates reporting on an actual recent (within the last two years) experience of EDI, undergraduates who denied recent EDI and were asked to imagine hypothetically what they might experience if they did engage in it, and community adults reporting on an experience of EDI they had while married or engaged.

Article from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_4_43/ai_n17094098