Many people promise to love their spouse until death do them part, but research has shown that this vow is broken after seven years. Statistics show that infidelity is one of the leading causes of marital breakdown and divorce; one in three marriages ends in divorce. Affairs have become common today more than ever and online affairs, equally harmful, are slowly increasing. “Extramarital affairs range from brief sexual encounters to full-blown romantic relationships.” (Knox and Schacht, 315) Adultery means being disloyal, cheating, and unfaithful in a marriage, yet people have created words like "sleep" and "fun" to downplay its seriousness and justify adultery as an act without guilt. We no longer live in the 1950s, a time when divorce was highly frowned upon. Today, society has created these expressions masking the perception of adultery. People have also created their individual values, which lead them to pursue personal happiness. What people don't realize is that infidelity actually hurts everyone involved; it destroys families, self-esteem, confidence, careers and leaves a residue of pain and despair. There are many reasons why men and women decide to commit, commit, or have committed adultery. Feldman and Cauffman (1999a) found that 53% of survey participants endorsed the most common motive: attraction. Next comes the absence of a partner with 48% and the inability to resist sexual opportunities. Finally, a third of participants who committed infidelity reported sexual dissatisfaction and insecurity within their relationship. Marriages become vulnerable to adultery when their needs are not met or met, causing an extramarital affair. Although it is immoral for either sex to commit adultery and involve... middle of paper...... ipulative and indifferent. Neto, Deschamps and Barros (2000) classify men as playful lovers. The playful style of love is lived by the motto “Love ’em and leave ’em” (Knox and Schacht, 60). Works Cited Basow, SA 1992. Gender: Stereotypes and Roles. 3D ed. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.Bird, CE and AM Fremont. 1991. Gender, time, use and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 32: 114-29Feldman, SS and Cauifaman, E. (1999a). Sexual betrayal among late adolescents: Perspectives of the perpetrator and the injured. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 235-258. Knox, David and Caroline Schacht. Choices in Relationships: An Introduction to Marriage and Family. Belmont: California. 2005.Print. Neto, F., JC Deschamps, J. Barros. 2000. Cross-cultural variations in attitudes toward love. Journal of Intercultural Psychology