Online Cheaters Still Prefer Real-World Infidelity

Anthony Weiner, take note: according to a new study about cyberinfidelity, sexting with people you meet online is a really poor substitute for sex. New research shows that the majority of people who first cheat online end up cheating with their Internet lovers in real life.

Evolving technology means that people find paramours in very different ways than they used to. In fact, the popularity of the Internet and the anonymity it affords has catapulted it to No. 1 on the list of top places to go looking for love. Assuming you don't commit a Wiener-like flub and send a mass tweet of your jersey-clad groin to all your Twitter followers, digital romance has the potential to be quite discreet. Just ask the nearly 10 million anonymous members of Ashley Madison, which bills itself as the world's leading married dating service. Its tagline? "Life is short. Have an affair."

Researchers at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, got permission from Ashley Madison to offer users the opportunity to participate in a survey as they were about to log off the dating site. In three months, researchers got 8,800 hits. Of those, they zeroed in on 5,187 adults who answered questions about Internet use, sexual behaviors and attitudes about online sexual behaviors, with a focus on cheating.

Here's what they learned: women are more likely than men to sext. More than two-thirds of the participants had cheated online while committed to someone else; more than three-quarters had cheated in real life. More than 66% said they had met someone in real life for a hook-up after first meeting them online; this finding applied to 83% of the women, according to the research, which is published online in the journal Sexuality & Culture.

More