Relationships

This is what being cheated on does to your body

A new study shows the broad reach the effect of infidelity has on emotional as well as physical well-being.

When a relationship ends for any reason it can be devastating, but if one partner has been unfaithful, the other person can be left with emotional and psychological damage that can take years to heal.

According to a new study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. infidelity also affect physical health too.

Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno, quizzed 232 university students who had been cheated on within the past three months.

The volunteers were in “serious and committed relationships” with an average length of just over a year and a half, at the point at which the infidelity took place or was discovered.

The study found that women experienced more distress than men, as a result of being cheated on.

This had a detrimental effect on their mental health, which in turn made it more likely for them to indulge in risk-taking behaviours that affected their physical health.

These included not eating, using alcohol or cannabis more often, over-exercising or having unprotected sex under the influence of drugs.

In addition, researchers discovered that people who blamed themselves for the infidelity were more likely to fall into a pattern of risky behaviour as a consequence.

“Being cheated on seems to not only have mental health consequences, but also increases risky behaviors,” M. Rosie Shrout, leading the study, tells PsyPost.

“It was interesting to find that these effects were stronger for women than men,” she adds.

“We think this is because women typically place higher importance on the relationship as a source of self and identity. As a result, women who have been cheated on might be more likely to have poorer mental health and engage in unhealthy, risky behavior because their self-perceptions have been damaged.”

Interestingly, the negative effects were the same regardless of whether someone stayed with their partner beyond being cheated on or not.

“It is possible that infidelity is such a serious and distressing relationship event that these intense negative reactions occur regardless of whether a person stays in the relationship,” Shrout notes.

The psychologists weren’t able to establish a causal link between infidelity and the behaviours, but they speculated that damaged self-esteem may lower inhibitions towards risky behaviours – or they could be a form of retaliation to the actions of the cheating partner.

The study was co-authored by Daniel J. Weigel.

Loading the player...

Related stories