preview

Infidelity Analysis

Better Essays

Introduction In the article, Characteristics of Those Who Participate in Infidelity: The Role of Adult Attachment and Differentiation in Extradyadic Experiences, Jessica Fish, Thomas Pavkov, Joseph Wetchler, and Jerry Bercik (2012) the relationship between adult attachment styles, differentiation and infidelity. Past research has indicated that therapists notice a large number of couples seek counseling sessions to help repair damage after an extramarital affair and that infidelity is difficult to treat via therapy. As a result of the growing amount of couples seeking therapy after infidelity has occurred therapists are attempting to better understand the nature of infidelity, which is why this study has attempted to add to this understanding. …show more content…

These individuals have a need for approval, which might lead them to validate themselves outside of their primary relationship; this seems to be especially true during times of conflict and neglect. Those who are high in both anxiety and avoidance are less likely to enter into infidelity relationships because of their “general distrust of others” …show more content…

These results align with the researchers hypothesis that individuals with low levels of differentiation are more likely to engage in the act of infidelity, which led the researchers to believe that “the theoretical notion that those with lower levels of differentiation will triangle in another individual to help manage their anxiety and maintain their primary relationship” (pg. 12). The emotional reactivity of the individual also showed a significant relationship with all the levels of infidelity. The researchers proposed that those individuals that engage in infidelity could possibly be doing so to create a distance between their partner as a result of their findings supporting this notion that as differentiation of self decreases the individual will seek out other relationship to create emotional distance between their

Get Access