Apparently, Husbands Are More Likely to Cheat If Their Wives Earn More Than Them

There's nothing sexier than a successful woman/girlboss/she-E-O, or so the man says. Until, of course, he marries one. For quite some time, we've been wondering why men cheat on their partners, especially if the latter is doing so well (peep: Jay and Bey or Jesse James and Sandra Bullock; or probably someone you already know). Is it really that common? Well, the short answer is yes. It happens way too often.

A study by the American Sociological Association backs this up, and the results are in: men who earn less than their significant others are far more likely to cheat in the relationship.

In fact, men who are dependent on their wives for their income are five times more likely to cheat than men who contribute an equal amount to the household. This explains a lot. It's apparently an attempt to reclaim their masculinity, according to one of the study's authors.

“Having multiple sexual partners may be an attempt to restore gender identity in response to these threats,” Cornell University sociology graduate student Christin Munsch writes. “In other words, for men, sex [outside their relationship] may be an attempt to compensate for feelings of inadequacy with respect to gender identity.”

ALSO READ:

What Are the Chances Your Partner Will Cheat on You?

Surprisingly, This Is the Most Common Way to Cheat

It seems as though men love to overcompensate (as if we don't already know that when we see big boys driving big trucks or cars). The sad part about this equation for women is that men who actually make more are more likely to cheat (Munsch also has her own diagram: men tend to cheat when the woman earns 25 percent less than them). It feels like an inevitability, a pathetic one at that. Women, on the other hand, were much more faithful when they relied on their male partners financially.

The researchers studied relationships during a six-year period, from 2002 to 2007, focusing on 18- to 28-year-old couples who were either married or lived together. It found out that 7 percent of men and 3 percent cheated. Apart from money, a lot of other factors influence the dynamics of the love affair. Religion, relationship satisfaction, education, and even race each play roles in these predicaments.