Psychological Distress Among Perpetrators of Infidelity

investing resources in unrelated offspring, whereas women who are victims of infidelity may lose their part-ners ’ time, resources, and commitment (e.g., Buss, Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth, 1992). Thus, infidelity can be a particularly devastating transgression within romantic relationships. In addition to causing relationship problems, infi-delity affects all parties involved. Injured partners often experience anger, disappointment, self-doubt, depressive symptomatology, and posttrauma-like symptoms in the aftermath of infidelity (see Allen et al., 2005, for a recent review). In contrast, the psychological functioning of perpetrators of infidelity has been largely overlooked by both researchers and practitioners. Nevertheless, there is a small body of research to suggest that perpetrators of infidelity also experience psychological distress. The present studies seek to build on this research