AP
Are more newly married women cheating today? Are mother's cheating? Not really. Here is a must-read article by Dr. Paul Joannides, research psychoanalyst, about the "American Wives and Sex survey" from AOL and Cookie Magazine published in 2008 and just now resurfacing claiming more mothers and wives are cheating. In Psychology Today, One-Third of Wives Cheat on Their Husbands? Really? | Psychology Today, Dr. Joannides said:
This survey is so savagely incompetent that I am in awe at how many different media outlets covered it. . . . If a slot machine were as rigged as this survey, the gaming commission would shut down the casino."
If you love surveys, then read them for fun, but not for accuracy. Most women are faithful to their husbands and lovers. These surveys give the impression that "everyone is doing it" -- when in fact, very few women are cheating.
Only 3 in every 100 wives are unfaithful annually
The most definitive research group in America has carefully researched cheating men and women over a 15 year period. Only 3 percent of women cheat annually. Infidelity Fast Facts, Love: fewer than 3 percent of women cheat each year.
Why then does an online survey give higher numbers? Flawed data from self-selection bias.
Five major problems arise when infidelity information is compiled:
1. Bias -- Self-selection bias takes place when those who want to participate in a survey do so. There is no control group. This is the likely scenario. You are online. A survey pops up on cheating wives. You have cheated and want to find out how many other women have cheated also. So you fill out the survey.
2. Lies --Those who participate in a survey, but lie about it.
3. Sample size -- 100 to 200 people surveyed is too small a sample for definitive data -- online surveys of thousands contain flawed data.
4. Interviewers -- With the Internet today we have many self-styled experts who have no formal training, no knowledge of statistical research, no publications in peer-review journals to assure accuracy. They may conduct interviews often without a control group, and without the type of instrument design that assures statistical significance.
5. Online surveys -- These are actual invitations to selection bias and no matter how many thousands participate, they are, by nature, unrealistic and flawed.
Which surveys can you trust? Only those conducted at universities, science-based foundations, and those from professional opinion research centers using rigid control guidelines.
What is the most consistent source for accuracy? Interviews conducted from the National Science Foundation's General Social Survey by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC).
Numbers involved in infidelity research: About 2,000 people a year surveyed with over 15,000 interviewed since 1988.
Who is surveyed? A nationally representative sample of 300-400 neighborhoods across America conducted by NORC, University of Chicago. (no selection bias)
How does NORC solve the problem of lying? I talked with Tom W. Smith, Ph.D, director of the Society and Culture section, and Dr. Smith said: “We do face-to-face interviews. However, when we come to the section on sexual behavior, the computer screen is turned around and faces only the respondent, to improve forthrightness."
- Infidelity Fast Facts, Love: fewer than 20 percent ever cheat
- Infidelity: Fast Facts, Love: only 5 percent of men cheat annually
- Infidelity Fast Facts, Love: fewer than 3 percent of women cheat each year
- Infidelity Fast Facts, Love: cheating figures you can trust
- Infidelity Fast Facts, Love: Oh, such lies we tell to interviewers
- Infidelity Fast Facts, Love: 7 signs so you can nip cheating in the bud
- Infidelity Fast Facts, Love: who is really cheating? Under 35 and over 60
In the spirit of full disclosure
I struggled through but learned statistics and survey design while studying for my Masters in Public Health at the Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. I have published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which reviewed one of my 7 books. My blog, Rita Watson: Relationships started in 2007, has many stories and studies of love, marriage, and infidelity.
Copyright 2010 Rita Watson/ All Rights Reserved
Comments
You're right to be wary of various survey numbers, but I DO think the numbers are quite a lot higher than the 3% figure you mention. In my own experience, for whatever it's worth, women – especially moms who have social lives separate from their husbands and children – cheat just about as frequently as men.
For all the men that are cheating I think there are women involved too. Not only married spouses, but in committed relationships also. Good info and presented well too. Thank you.
Hello Sarah and Roberta:
Yes, women are cheating and those under 35 are cheating more than most (I'll present those figures next week.)
However, take a look at the research in my Infidelity Fast Facts and you will see why NORC and its relationship to the National Science Foundation can really stand behind numbers in terms of accuracy.
Thank you for your comments and inspiration. I will do an article about your comments next week.
Happiness/ R
I agree that it is quite odd that major media outlets published a flawed study.
I find it interesting that you chose not to use the following quote by Dr. Paul Joannides also from the same article that you mentioned.
“Look, I honestly can't tell you if 34% of wives cheat on their husbands, or if it's more like 90%. But neither can the people at Cookie Magazine or AOL based on this dog."
I noticed that you neglected to use all of Dr. Joannides quote, is it because it did not support the point you were trying to make?
Do you only pick out the quotes that support your articles?
It sounds like you’re doing exactly what you’re accusing the surveys of doing – skewing the survey results to fit your agenda
Dear J. W.
I chose not to use the full quote because he makes his point quite clearly -- the survey was basically flawed research. He also added that it could be a Comedy Central skit. He knows research design.
In terms of the numbers, the world expert whom I did quote knows statistics. And Dr. Smith quite clearly points out that fewer than 3 percent of all women cheat on an annual basis.
Dr. Smith defines the numbers from a thoroughly researched statistical perspective.
Whereas Dr. Joannides makes an amusingly passionate statement about an inaccurate survey.
Hope that clarifies things for you. / R
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