Adultery, on the rise among one particular age group in America
When it comes to old-fashioned adultery, one age group, in particular, is more inclined to cheat on their spouses, a professor from Utah argues in a newly published study.
Older Americans are cheating on their spouses more than their younger counterparts, with 20 percent of married Americans over age 55 reporting they’ve engaged in extramarital sex. When it comes to those younger than 55, only 14 percent of them admitted to adultery, according to a research led by Nicholas H. Wolfinger, a professor in the University of Utah’s Department of Family and Consumer Studies.
Professor Wolfinger’s study pointed out that those in their 50s and 60s are the ones responsible for drive up the percentage of Americans that engage in extramarital sex. The research also pointed out that these people have been married for 20 or 30 years.
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And while some might argue that the length of the marriage might be the cause for the increase of adultery among older Americans, the professor points out that this particular generation came of age in the wake of the sexual revolution and, over the course of their lifetimes, have had more sex partners compared to younger Americans.
Also, views on extramarital sex are changing, and getting much softer among older Americans.
“No matter how many polyamorists there are today, old-fashioned adultery seems to have risen among older Americans,” Wolfinger said. “Even as overall divorce rates have fallen in recent decades, there has been a startling surge in ‘grey divorce’ among the middle-aged. Part of that story seems to be a corresponding increase in midlife adultery, which seems to be both the cause and the consequence of a failing marriage. The declining rates of extramarital sex among younger Americans seemingly portends a future of monogamous marriage. But the seeds sown by the sexual revolution continue to bear unanticipated fruit among older Americans.”
One limitation of the survey on which Wolfinger based his study could be the fact that the questions specifically targeted extramarital sex and not adultery per se. But the professor says that even taken this into consideration, the percentage of older Americans that cheat on their spouses is still higher than that of younger adults.
The research coming from Utah is not the first to point out that there are differences between the sexual behaviour of older and younger adults. According to another study published last year, Millenials are actually having less sex than the previous generations.
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