How Infidelity Affects a Relationship

 Infidelity is a word used to denote a violation of rules or boundaries that have been agreed upon within a relationship between two people. The word may be used to describe a marital infidelity or a cultural infidelity. When talking it in terms of marriage it is more often referred to as cheating, adultery or having an affair. When a person has been said to have an affair it means they have stepped outside the boundaries of the marriage and have had some sort of sexual relationship with someone other than their spouse.

Studies of marriage and cheating have been conducted as it has been shown that over 90% of the divorces in the United States are due to some form of infidelity by one or both members of the relationship. This number has been linked to first time divorces and it is lower for successive divorces. There have been other studies conducted that offer up some different results. Other researchers have reported that only 20% of marriage end because of cheating in some form.

An affair can be devastating to a marriage. One or both people feel betrayed and often there is no way for them to get over it and they decide to end the marriage. People who have had an affair often say that they don't know how the affair started. It typically begins as an attraction between two people who know each other fairly well. It does happen that people meet randomly and they begin an affair. In most cases when the affair begins people don't know how to end it and it continues on. The way to end an affair is to first and foremost tell your spouse or partner that you have been having an affair.

This will open communication and there may be a way that you can save your marriage or relationship if you are honest. By being honest about it your spouse or partner may be able to forgive you. Even if you end the affair and don't admit having it and your partner finds out from someone else it may be impossible to save your relationship.

When trying to end an affair it is important that you distance yourself from the person you are cheating with. In order to stop cheating on your partner you need to remove that person from your life. Seeing the person whom you had affair with may tempt you to continue to have the affair, however, if you don't see them you won't feel the need to continue the affair. Not all affairs will end like this. Some affairs happen because people are in the heat of the moment and often they reach a point the passion begins to fade away and both people being to drift apart and then things just stop. If this happens it is still important that you be honest with your spouse or partner, the affair did happen and you must come clean about it if you are going to continue on in your marriage.