Who Is More Likely to Cheat? 9 Surprising Science Findings

The Question Everyone Asks: Who Is More Likely to Cheat?

Science has actually taken a serious look at who is more likely to cheat, and the answers might surprise you. Personality traits, daily habits, and even workplace demographics can play a role in infidelity, though some findings are solid while others are still up for debate. Compiled from research shared by Psikobilim on X and published on Ekşi Şeyler on May 13, 2025, this list separates what studies strongly support from what remains more speculative.

Let's start with what researchers agree on. People who score high in conscientiousness, meaning they are organized, disciplined, and deeply committed to their responsibilities, show the lowest tendency to cheat. This isn't a passing observation. Multiple meta-analyses and large-scale personality studies consistently confirm that this trait is negatively correlated with infidelity. If you want a reliable signal for loyalty, look for someone who takes their obligations seriously, whether at work or in relationships.

Another finding backed by data involves social media. Heavy users are more likely to cheat on their partners, according to correlational studies published in journals like Computers in Human Behavior in 2017. The effect is modest and not causal, meaning researchers cannot say social media itself makes someone unfaithful. But the link between high usage, lower relationship satisfaction, and increased odds of infidelity-related behaviors is real enough to warrant attention.

Conscientious People Are Least Likely to Cheat (and Heavy Social Media Users Most)

If you want to know who is more likely to cheat, start by looking at personality. People who score high in conscientiousness, meaning they are organized, disciplined, and deeply committed to their obligations, show the lowest tendency toward infidelity across multiple large-scale studies and meta-analyses. That is about as close to a settled finding as relationship science gets.

Think about what conscientiousness actually looks like in daily life. These are the people who show up on time, keep their promises, and take their responsibilities seriously, whether at work, with family, or in a relationship. That same sense of duty extends to their partners. When researchers aggregate data from many studies, the pattern holds consistently: a strong sense of responsibility acts as a protective factor against cheating.

Now for the other end of the spectrum. Heavy social media users show a higher likelihood of infidelity-related behaviors, according to correlational studies published in journals like Computers in Human Behavior. The link is real but modest, and researchers are careful to note it is not causal. Using Instagram or Twitter a lot does not make someone cheat, but the two tendencies do travel together. The constant exposure to alternatives, the easy private messaging, the curated highlight reels of other people's relationships, all of it seems to nudge the odds upward just a bit.

Here is the important nuance: correlation is not causation. A person who spends hours scrolling through social feeds might already be dissatisfied in their relationship, and that dissatisfaction drives both the heavy scrolling and the wandering eye. The studies cannot untangle which comes first. What they can say is that daily habits and personality traits both matter when predicting who is more likely to cheat, and neither one tells the whole story on its own.

Past Behavior Predicts the Future: Cheaters and the Cheated-On

The original account claims that someone who has cheated once, whether male or female, is dramatically more likely to repeat the behavior, and that people who have been cheated on are also more likely to cheat themselves. Those are the numbers that get tossed around in relationship circles, and they sound tidy enough to believe. The science behind them, however, is a lot more complicated than a simple multiplier.

The specific ratios, such as "four times more likely" or "twice as likely," are figures that have taken on a life of their own. Prior infidelity does predict future infidelity, that part is real, but the precise multiplier shifts from study to study. The same goes for the claim about people who have been cheated on. Some research does suggest that being a victim of betrayal can correlate with later becoming the betrayer, yet the exact numbers are not something you will find replicated across the literature. It is a pattern, not a law.

What makes this tricky is how these round numbers feel so definitive. They get repeated in blog posts and casual conversation until they harden into folk wisdom. The truth is that human behavior resists that kind of neat arithmetic. A person's history matters, absolutely, but it interweaves with personality, circumstances, and opportunity in ways that no single ratio can capture. So if you are trying to figure out who is more likely to cheat, past behavior is a legitimate clue, just not the airtight predictor those catchy figures suggest.

The Age and Gender Myth: Who Really Cheats More as They Get Older?

No, the idea that men become increasingly more likely to cheat after 30 while women fall behind is a myth that national data simply does not support. According to the General Social Survey (GSS), which tracks American behavior over decades, the gender gap in infidelity actually narrows with age, and after 60, women's rates often equal or even exceed men's. The reality is far more complex than the simple "men love beauty" explanation.

The original interpretation framed this as evidence of men's inherent "love of beauty," a tidy narrative that crumbles when you look at what the data actually shows. The GSS, a nationally representative survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago since 1972, consistently reveals that younger men do report higher rates of infidelity than younger women. But something shifts as the decades pass.

By the time people reach their 50s, the gap tightens considerably. Once past 60, the numbers don't just converge, they often flip, with women reporting infidelity at rates equal to or greater than men of the same age. This pattern holds across multiple waves of the survey, making it one of the more robust findings in relationship research.

What explains this reversal? The reasons are probably as varied as the people involved. Longer relationships face different pressures than new ones. Life stages change, priorities shift, and the social constraints that might have kept younger women from straying often loosen with age. Retirement brings more free time and different social circles. Menopause and changing health dynamics reshape how couples relate to each other.

The takeaway here is that who is more likely to cheat depends heavily on where you are in life, not just on your gender. The confident assertion that men over 30 are the perpetual cheaters, with the gap widening as birthdays accumulate, simply doesn't hold up against the evidence. The story is messier, more human, and far less flattering to any simple gender-based narrative.

Why Women Cheat: Attraction vs. Parenting Potential

When psychologist David Buss and his colleagues surveyed people across 19 countries, they uncovered something that flips the usual assumptions about female infidelity on its head. Women who cheat are not simply chasing better looks or hotter bodies. The picture is far more strategic, and it comes down to two very different kinds of appeal.

The research, published in 1990, asked women to compare their primary partner with their affair partner across several dimensions. The results were remarkably consistent from one culture to the next. Women rated their affair partners as more physically attractive than their steady partners. But here is the twist: they rated their primary partners as more attractive as potential parents. And when it came to personality, the affair partners did not measure up at all.

Think about what that means in human terms. A woman might be drawn to someone who turns heads at a party, someone whose physical presence sparks immediate desire. Yet when she steps back and imagines raising children, building a home, or weathering life's storms, that same person suddenly looks inadequate. The man she chose to build a life with, the one she might complain about or take for granted, is the one she trusts with the future.

This is not about women being confused or contradictory. It is about trade-offs. Women's infidelity, at least according to this cross-cultural pattern, often involves splitting different needs across different people. The affair partner satisfies a craving for physical excitement. The primary partner remains the one who feels like a safe bet for family life.

The personality finding matters too. Women in the study did not view their affair partners as suitable matches in temperament or character. They were not looking for a whole new life with these men. The affair was compartmentalized, a separate box from the one holding long-term plans.

So when people ask who is more likely to cheat and why, the answer for women is rarely as simple as "they found someone better looking." The calculus runs deeper, touching on what different partners offer at different moments. It is a reminder that attraction and commitment do not always point in the same direction, and that human desire rarely fits into neat categories.

Genetics, Dogs, and the Workplace: Surprising Factors

Some of the wildest claims about who is more likely to cheat fall apart under scrutiny, while others hold up surprisingly well. The genetic angle is one of those murky areas. Twin studies suggest infidelity behavior is partly heritable, with some reports estimating the figure at 62 percent for men and 40 percent for women. Those exact numbers, however, have not been consistently replicated across studies, so treat them as estimates rather than settled science.

Then there is the dog theory. You have probably seen the viral claim that men who own dogs are far less likely to cheat than men who own cats or no pets at all. It sounds charming, but no credible peer-reviewed study backs it up. It is an internet myth, pure and simple, the kind of thing that spreads because it feels good rather than because it is true.

What does have solid research behind it? The workplace. A study using Swedish registry data found that when a man works in an environment with a higher proportion of female coworkers, his risk of divorce goes up. The finding emerged from tracking real employment and marital records, not self-reported surveys, which gives it unusual weight. The mechanism is not fully understood, but the correlation is documented.

So when you hear sweeping statements about genetics or pet ownership determining fidelity, pause. The evidence is a patchwork. Some pieces are sturdy, some are threadbare, and telling them apart matters if you are trying to understand who is more likely to cheat.