Affairs - Satisfaction Or Fatal Attraction?

Having an affair may bring some spice into your life, but it might also damage your health. That's according to the results of a recent Care for the Family/MORI survey, released at the start of this year's National Marriage Week.

For three quarters (75%) of those who had experienced infidelity it was not a positive experience. In almost three in ten (29%) cases where one partner or other had an affair, they said it had a negative effect on their health or well-being, whilst nearly a sixth (14%) said ill-effects filtered down to their children - the equivalent of 189 million families throughout the population.

In the majority of instances the outcome of the infidelity was the marriage or relationship ending (60%), with only in 1 in 20 (5%) prompted to take professional help.

Barbie Reynolds, manager of Care for the Family's relationship skills workshops, said, "It comes as no real surprise that for most people infidelity causes nothing but pain and sadness. It's not fashionable to talk about the 'cost' of an affair but thousands of people know the reality of it. But an affair needn't always mean the end of a marriage or partnership. It is possible, with a lot of hard work and forgiveness, to rebuild a relationship - but you will usually need help to do this."

Whilst the majority of the two thousand people polled had not experienced infidelity, for those who did it had a significant, and largely negative, impact on their life. The indications are that for over 3 million adults in the UK, an affair was more than just 'a bit of fun'.

For full survey results or to arrange an interview with Barbie Reynolds, contact June or Helen on 029-2081 1733.

Technical details

• The survey 'The Impact of Infidelity' was carried out by MORI on behalf of Care for the Family between 30 May - 3 June 2001. The 2,013 interviews were carried out in homes at 130 sampling points throughout Great Britain among adults aged 16+.
• Care for the Family is registered charity. Its aims are to promote strong family life and to help those hurting because of family break-up.
• Barbie Reynolds has a BSc (Hons) in Sociology and undertook post-graduate research on Communication in Marriage. She and her husband, Peter, have been involved in relationship therapy since the 1970's and developed the 'Rapport' series of communication skills workshops. For more information on Rapport contact Care for the Family on 029-2081 0800.
• National Marriage Week runs from 10 - 17 February 2002. Visit www.nmw.org.uk