Background: In recent years, the factor of attitude towards infidelity has attracted the attention of studies related to marital infidelity. People who have a more favorable attitude toward extramarital affairs are more likely to engage in such a relationship. Before addressing the roots and factors that control marital infidelity, it is essential to identify the attitudes that underlie and facilitate marital infidelity. Despite discovering the importance of the attitude factor towards marital infidelity, there is a research gap in identifying attitudes that facilitate marital infidelity in men.
Aims: The aim of the present study was to identify Facilitative Attitudes in men who have experienced marital infidelity.
Methods: This research was conducted with a qualitative approach and descriptive phenomenological method. The population studied in this study included all married men who had referred to one of 15 counseling centers in Bushehr in 2024 due to marital infidelity. Using purposive sampling, the first man was selected, and then the sampling process continued until the data reached saturation (42 people). The data collection tool in this study was a semi-structured interview. The Collaizi (1978) method was used to analyze the research data. Also, MAXQDA-20 software was used to analyze the extracted data more accurately.
Results: In this study, and in interviews with men who have experienced marital infidelity, 3 final themes and 13 main themes were identified from the analysis of extracted data, including: Individual attitudes (self-sacrifice, sense of entitlement, developmental tasks, sensation seeking), Relational–marital attitudes (renewing intimacy, sexual problems, seeking approval, lack of mutual understanding, revenge, tendency to end the relationship) and Social attitudes (peer group influence, gendered perspective, normalization.
Conclusion: Given the comprehensiveness of the findings of the present study, it is suggested that the factors discovered in this qualitative study (attitudes facilitating infidelity in men as prerequisites for establishing extramarital relationships) be considered by couple therapists to prevent marital infidelity and even treat it.
Type of Study:
Research |
Subject:
Special Received: 2025/05/11 | Accepted: 2026/09/1 | Published: 2026/09/23