Determinants of the Intention to Commit Inidelity in Romantic Relationships

Partnerska prevara je sve češća među mladim odraslim osobama, osobito u zapadnjačkim kulturama gdje se pokazalo da ona može biti štetna za vezu i za dobrobit oba partnera. Stvarna ili percipirana prijetnja partnerskom prevarom može rezultirati negativnim posljedicama u vezi poput partnerskog nasilja (Whisman i sur., 1997). Prevara je široki pojam koji u sebi nosi različite oblike poput emocionalne, seksualne, kombinirane, a u novije vrijeme i online prevare. Istraživanja prevare se vrlo često usmjeravaju na ispitivanje kako stavovi i namjere prema počinjenju prevare utječu na samo ponašanje prevare. Uz to se ispituju i brojne druge varijable poput osobina ličnosti, zadovoljstva vezom pa i sociodemografske varijable dobi, spola, religioznosti i razine obrazovanja. Cilj ovoga rada bio je ispitati ulogu stava, percipirane ponašajne kontrole, subjektivnih normi, zadovoljstva vezom i osobina ličnosti na namjeru za počinjenjem prevare u romantičnim vezama te razlike u stavovima prema prevari, u namjeri za počinjenjem prevare i u samom ponašanju prevare s obzirom na spol, razinu obrazovanja i religioznost. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 359 ispitanika (238 žena i 121 muškarac), dok je raspon dobi ispitanika sezao od 18 do 74 godine (M =32.98, SD = 12.69). Rezultati su pokazali kako su stavovi prema prevari, percipirana ponašajna kontrola i subjektivne norme značajni prediktori namjere za počinjenjem prevare u romantičnim vezama. Uz to ispitane su i razlike u stavovima prema prevari i namjeri za počinjenjem prevare s obzirom na spol, razinu obrazovanja i religioznost te je dobiveno kako muškarci imaju pozitivnije stavove prema prevari i veću namjeru za počinjenjem prevare nego žene, nisko obrazovani pojedinci imaju pozitivnije stavove i veću namjeru za počinjenjem prevare nego visoko obrazovani, a manje religiozni pojedinci imaju pozitivnije stavove prema prevari, ali razlika u namjeri s obzirom na religioznost nije pronađena. Također u ovom istraživanju nije dobivena povezanost između zadovoljstva vezom i namjere za počinjenjem prevare te osobina ličnosti sa zadovoljstvom vezom i namjerom za počinjenjem prevare. Rezultati ovog istraživanja pružaju dokaze za teoriju planiranog ponašanja za specifično ponašanje prevare, spolnim razlikama koje se konzistentno pokazuju kroz istraživanja te da zadovoljstvo vezom nije povezano uz stavove prema prevari i namjeri za počinjenjem iste.
Infidelity in romantic relationships is a common occurence in modern relationships, especially in western cultures where it has been shown that it can be harmful for the relationship and wellbeing of both partners. Real or percieved threat to partner infidelity can result in negative outcomes such as partner violence (Whisman et al., 1997). Infidelity is a wide term that can come in a variety of different forms such as emotional, sexual, combined, and nowadays even online infidelity. Infidelity research often focus on how attitudes and intention of committing infidelity can affect actual behavior of infidelity. Besides that, other variables are also being associated with infidelity, some of them being personality facets, relationship satisfaction and sociodemographic variables like age, gender, religiosity and education level. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of attitudes, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms, relationship satisfaction and personality facets on the intention to commit infidelity in romantic relationships, and differences in attitudes towards infidelity, intention to commit infidelity and the actual behaviour of infidelity regarding gender, education level and religiosity of respondents. There were total of 359 respondents in this study (238 women, and 121 men). The age of respondents ranged from 18 to 74 years old (M = 32.98, SD = 12.69). The results have shown that attitudes towards infidelity, percieved behavioural control and subjective norms were all significant predictors of intention to commit infidelity in romantic relationships. Differences in attitudes towards infidelity, and intention to commit infidelity regarding gender, education level and religiosity were also examined where the results have shown that men have more positive attitudes towards infidelity and higher intention to involve in infidelity behaviours than women. Additionally, people with lower education level have had more positive attitudes towards infidelity and higher intention to commit infidelity behaviours than people with higher education level, but no differences were found in intention to commit infidelity regarding religiosity. No significant correlation between relationship satisfaction and intention to commit infidelity, or between relationship and intention to commit infidelity was found. The results of this study give evidence for the theory of planned behaviour regarding the specific behaviour of infidelity, gender differences that have consistently been shown in similar research, and the result that relationship satisfaction is in fact not in correlation with the intention to commit infidelity in romantic relationships. Contribution of personality facets in explaining intention to commit infidelity could not have been examined in this study, which supports inconsistency of research in this field.