I have been wondering a while if anybody has actual statistics on the ability for a marriage to recover from an affair. I have seen the odd reference to how prevelant affairs are. but nothing regarding statistics regarding marriages ability to actually recover and survive.

I know this board is not a clear indication as most people here who stay for any length of time really want to make things work, but there are many who never make it this far and leave as soon as DD happpens, or soon thereafter.

Also a lot of books reference the fact that the chances of a marriage surviving are less when there is a WW than a WH. I've been lead to believe that the chances of a marriage surviving a WW is much less than a WH, something I guess in the ability of a BW to forgive easier than a BH.

Regardless anybody have any links or real stats.

Well, You can find statistics on affairs:

c About 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will have an affair at some point in some marriage, according to Peggy Vaughan, author of "The Monogamy Myth: A Personal Handbook for Recovering from Affairs."

c About 24 percent of men and 14 percent of women have had sex outside their marriages, according to a Dec. 21, 1998 report in USA Today on a national study by the University of California, San Francisco.

c Affairs affect one of every 2.7 couples, according to counselor Janis Abrahms Spring, author of "After the Affair," as reported by the Washington Post on March 30, 1999.

And you can find statistics on divorce, but the numbers don't tell you anything.


The main reason for the lack of information is that infidelity can't be directly observed in studies. When individuals respond to surveys, there is no way to verify if they are telling the truth about what is probably a sore subject.

Divorce rates can be measured, but do not coincide with infidelity rates because divorces can occur for reasons other than infidelity. Also, infidelity does not always result in divorce.