Infidelity is common, and lower than everybody guesses
Around one in five married men, and one in eight married women.
In decades of the General Social Survey, about 20 per cent of married men and 13 per cent of married women reported ever having had sex with someone other than their spouse while married. Asked about the past year rather than ever, the figure drops to a few per cent.
The gender gap has been closing, and not because men are doing it less. The rate among women under 30 now matches men's; among people over 60 the gap is as wide as it ever was. The generation, not the sex, turns out to be the better predictor.
