Explaining Attitudes Toward Extramarital Relationships Based on Personality Dimensions and Sexual Schemas: The Mediating Role of Sexual Novelty-Seeking

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to explain attitudes toward extramarital relationships based on personality dimensions and sexual schemas, with the mediating role of sexual novelty-seeking.

Methods: This research employed a descriptive-correlational design. The statistical population included all couples who referred to psychological counseling centers and family courts in Tehran in 2021. The sample size was determined as 674 individuals based on Morgan's table and selected using a convenience sampling method considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. Individuals with anxiety or mood disorders were excluded from the study. Research instruments included the Attitudes Toward Extramarital Relationships Questionnaire by Mark (2006), the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (2004), the Questionnaire of Cognitive Schema Activation in Sexual Contexts (QCSASC), and the Glass and Wright Justification for Extramarital Relationships Questionnaire (1992). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and path analysis with LISREL software version 10.20.

Findings: Results indicated that 30.7% of the variance in attitudes toward extramarital relationships was indirectly explained by personality dimensions and sexual schemas, with the mediating role of sexual novelty-seeking. Based on the findings, attitudes toward extramarital relationships were positively and significantly predicted by neuroticism (path coefficient = 0.25), openness to experience (path coefficient = 0.84), sexual schemas (path coefficient = 0.27), and sexual novelty-seeking (path coefficient = 0.16).

Conclusion: The findings revealed that attitudes toward extramarital relationships were negatively and significantly predicted by agreeableness (path coefficient = -0.38) and conscientiousness (path coefficient = -0.33). Thus, personality traits and sexual schemas predict extramarital relationships and sexual novelty-seeking.