Examination of sex differences in the responses to heterosexual and homosexual infidelity

Abstract

Objective: The goal of the study was to investigate the role of heterosexual and homosexual infidelity scenarios by two infidelity types (sexual versus emotional) on emotional responses (anger, disgust, surprise, sad, and jealousy) of male and female participants. Methods: A total of 881 participants (449 males and 432 females) were assigned to one of two infidelity conditions formed by two scenarios as heterosexual and homosexual infidelity, and they were asked to indicate which infidelity type would make them more distressed, sexual or emotional. Also the participants were required to choose their predominant emotion that they would have felt by the type of infidelity they found more distressing. The data were analyzed by exploratory multi-way frequency analysis that allows examining the multi-way interactions among categorical variables of interest. By employing the analysis, a hierarchical log-linear model of infidelity driven responses for four categorical variables was produced. Results: Although, the results generally were consistent with the infidelity literature, additionally the present data indicated a sex difference in the responses to the scenario types as a function of whether the act of infidelity results in a progeny. Discussion: The results were discussed in the framework of the emotional responses which were counted in the present study along with jealousy, in terms of their motivational effects on behavioral outputs of type of infidelity faced.