Unfortunately, infidelity is a problem too many marriages and relationships struggle with. There have been numerous studies that try pinpointing why a spouse would cheat on their significant other, but one approach in particular reveals a shocking truth - when your loved one is more likely to break those marital vows.
According to the extramarital dating site Gleeden (a female-run French service), there's a surprising uptick in user signups in January. To be more specific, the second Monday of the new year. According to this popular service, January is the most popular time to cheat on your spouse. In 2016 alone, the site saw a shocking 320 percent increase in registrations the second Monday after New Year's Day.
The stress of the holidays
Since this data has been released, researchers have tried to pinpoint why January, out of all the months of the year, is the most common month for infidelity to occur. Canadian-based relationship expert Nicole McCance weighs in, commentingthat the dreary weather and the post-holiday slump is combined with the realization that couples need to seemingly endure this relationship for a whole other year. To cope, some partners go seeking illicit affairs to help grapple with those realities.
It's no secret that the holidays can be stressful - drained bank accounts, visits with friends and family you might not get along with and the general pressure to have the "perfect holiday season" might contribute to the uptick in registrations on sites like Gleeden. However, according to the New York Times, studies have shown that all this data about an overall increase in infidelity might be misleading, at least when it comes to certain demographics.
The infidelity shift
In a survey of 4,884 married women, researchers found that when asked in person (during a face-to-face interview) if they had been unfaithful, only one percent answered 'yes.' However, when the same questions were asked via a computer questionnaire, six percent of the same group of women answered that they had been unfaithful.
The silver lining
The researchers also found that while there is also an uptick in infidelity between young married couples (up five percent for men since 1991), "a vast majority of people still say adultery is wrong, and most men and women do not appear to be unfaithful." There are also questions about how accurate all infidelity data really is - well demonstrated by the discrepancy between data when the question of adultery was asked in person versus when asked electronically.
So while Gleeden might report more registrations in January, there really isn't a way to prove that all of those women ended up cheating on their spouses (or even cheated in the month of January). And according to data reported by the New York Times, even asking these women outright (in person or electronically) reveals that we might never know the answer.
Dr. John P. Robison, professor of sociology and director of the Americans' Use of Time project at the University of Maryland commented on an optimistic shift found in all this data - "couples appear to be spending slightly more time together." Additionally, "married men and women also appear to have the most active sex lives." And according to Dr. Robinson, that's good news.
