A recently published study by David Atkins at the University of Washington has noted that infidelity has increased among young married couples where "between 1991 and 2006, the numbers of unfaithful wives under 30 increased by 20% and husbands by a whopping 45%."
One explanation for this trend is the higher median age of marriage, which leaves people more time in their premarital relationships to essentially pick up bad habits, such as cheating from one relationship to another. Experiencing a couple break ups of long term relationships also may dilute the repercussions of marital infidelity. In addition, people are less likely nowadays to give up their social network of friends of the same and opposite gender once they are married unlike among the older generation.
Even friendships with members of the same sex generally used to fall by the wayside when people got married or, again, change in scale or importance. Ms. Sollee, who is in her 60s, recalls her own generation's attitude toward them: "The idea that these friendships would take any priority over your husband was unheard of." But she cites a number of 20- and 30-something women she knows who still have "girls' nights out" at bars and even go on vacation with their friends and without their husbands.
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