School of Family Studies and Human Services, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, 286 TLRB, Provo, UT, 84602, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2020 May;49(4):1177-1188. doi: 10.1007/s10508-020-01657-3. Epub 2020 Mar 16.
Cheating-a general term for extradyadic romantic or sexual behavior that violates expectations in a committed romantic relationship-is common and leads to a number of poor outcomes. Religion has historically influenced conceptions of romantic relationships, but societal attitudes about religion are in flux as many seek to retain spirituality even as affiliations with formal religion decrease. The present study evaluated a potential predictor of cheating that is more spiritual than formally religious, the "psychospiritual" concept of relationship sanctification (i.e., the idea that one's relationship itself is sacred). In a sample of college students in committed relationships (N = 716), we found that higher levels of self-reported relationship sanctification were associated with a lower likelihood of both physical and emotional cheating even when accounting for plausible alternate explanations (general religiosity, problematic alcohol use, and trait self-control). This association was mediated via permissive sexual attitudes; specifically, higher levels of sanctification were associated with less permissive sexual attitudes which, in turn, predicted a lower likelihood of emotional and physical cheating.
出轨——一种违反承诺的浪漫或性关系的行为，通常会导致许多不良后果。宗教在历史上影响了人们对浪漫关系的看法，但随着许多人试图在减少与正式宗教联系的同时保持精神信仰，社会对宗教的态度正在发生变化。本研究评估了一个比正式宗教更具精神性的出轨潜在预测因素，即“心理精神”关系神圣化的概念（即一个人的关系本身是神圣的）。在一项对有承诺关系的大学生样本（N=716）的研究中，我们发现，即使考虑到合理的替代解释（一般宗教信仰、有问题的酒精使用和特质自我控制），自我报告的关系神圣化程度越高，身体和情感出轨的可能性就越低。这种关联通过许可性的性态度来调节；具体来说，更高水平的神圣化与更宽松的性态度有关，而这种性态度反过来又预示着情感和身体出轨的可能性较低。
