This study of 197 college student participants found that marital infidelity is significantly more unacceptable than dating infidelity. Men tended to be more lenient in their ratings of infidelity than women. Self-esteem scores were significantly higher for individuals who did not become involved in dating infidelity than for participants who did. However, self-esteem was not found to be a significant factor in whether a person remained in a current relationship in which the partner had been unfaithful.
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Sheppard et al. (1995) studied this question.
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