EXAMINING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MARITAL ADJUSTMENT , TENDENCY FOR CONFLICT AND CHEATING AMONG MARRIED COUPLES

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between marital adjustment, tendency for conflict and cheating among married individuals. The current study also considers whether there are relationships between gender and each of the variables. The Marital Adjustment Scale, Tendency for Conflict Scale and Tendency for Cheating Scale were used as measurement tools in the current study. The snowball sampling technique was used and the responses of 120 married individuals in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus were evaluated. 50.8% of the participants were female, while 49.2% of them were male. It has been found that there was a negative correlation between marital adjustment and conflict among both married women and men; in other words, when marital adjustment increases, the conflict tendency decreases among married individuals. Also, there was a positive correlation between the tendency for conflict and cheating among both married women and men; in other words, when the conflict tendency increases, the tendency for cheating also rises among married individuals. The findings generally suggest that there was a tendency to cheat among married individuals, although there was no significant difference between men and women in terms of the tendency to cheat. Considering the tendencies for conflict and cheating negatively associated with the marital adjustment, the current study can be useful for psychotherapists who work with married individuals as well as for future studies aiming to examine marital relationships.


Introduction
Marriage is an agreement that requires mutual solidarity and it occurs with social confirmation.Marriage permits satisfaction of sexual needs through overcoming social prohibitions (Özuğurlu, 1985).When partners fall in love with each other, they generally do not want to know or accept the fact that they may sometimes experience problems during their marriage (O'Leary & Smith, 1991).Although both love and passion have had significant places in art and literature for many years, it appears that the nature of marital relationships has changed in Western culture and mutual satisfaction has become crucial in the last two centuries.Nevertheless, love continues to play an important role in ensuring uniformity during marriage (Beach & Tesser, 1988).The literature indicates that numerous studies have investigated marital adjustment and marriage related problems.Moreover, clinicians and social scientists have also been keen to explore marriage quality and martial adjustment in recent years (Erbek, et. al, 2005).
Although social scientists have started to study extramarital relationships in the last 25 years, these relationships have been very common throughout history.The main reason for studying extramarital relationships is the fact that it is harmful for the uniformity of marriage.It is known that more than 50% of married men and almost 50% of married women reported that they had an extramarital relationship at some point during their marriage (Atwood & Seifer, 1997).According to Lawson and Samson (1988), individuals who are married at least 10 years have cheated on their partners or vice versa at least once during their marriage.
One of the main risk factors of having an extramarital relationship is being male; therefore, gender differences are commonly examined in the context of extramarital relationships.However, the causes of having an extramarital relationship differ among males and females.Males may have extramarital relationships because of disappointment related to their marriage, with the desire to seek something new, the existence of women around them who are not looking for a serious relationship, the spontaneous feeling of satisfaction and the feeling of revenge (Norment, 1998a).Although cheating among females is not a new phenomenon, it has not been analysed frequently.Females may have extramarital relationships due to the desire to increase their self-confidence, to not be neglected, to seek excitement, to satisfy their romantic needs, with the desire to be with someone that who has more wealth and higher status than their current partner, sexual dissatisfaction and the urge to be rid of their housework responsibilities (Norment, 1998b).It has been suggested that the motivation to cheat females is more likely to occur due to for the desire to seek intimacy, while cheating behaviour in males appears to be random (Allen & Baucom, 2004).
Conflicts are inevitable considering that women and men have different communication cultures (MacGeorge et al., 2004;Veroff et al., 2004;Tegin, 1990).The studies examining extramarital relationships usually focus on unhappiness and conflicts within the marriage.For instance, considering divorce after only several years of marriage may stem from external factors or decreased satisfaction in the marriage (Beach & Tesser, 1988).Despite the fact that partners are satisfied, happy and have equal status in the marriage, there is always the possibility to meet with attractive alternatives, which is one of the external factors that may affect the marriage (Sprecher, 1998).Conflicts related to communication also have a significant effect on marital adjustment.According to Sabatalli and colleagues (1986), there is special communication among newly married couples and the quality of this communication also has an impact on the quality of the marriage.The quality of communication is a discrete concept which is difficult to define.The quality of communication in the marriage can be identified as functional and symbolic processes.Married couples usually try to gain this communication skill and maintain it during the marriage.The quality of communication and the quality of the relationship are inter-related.The relationship in the marriage becomes stronger as couples increase their communication skills.Nevertheless, discussing the quality of communication is not convenient when there is not a minimum level of satisfaction in the relationship.In this case, couples can only maintain their relationship instead of making improvements.Many studies have indicated that the association between communication skills and satisfaction of the marriage is not easy to understand.Therefore, it is not always correct to say that 'good communication increases the quality of the marriage', yet it is possible to explore this association.The factors influencing this association can be identified as communication skills, stress related to marriage and gender (Burleson & Denton, 1997).Despite the fact that communication has a significant effect on happiness in the marriage, if a couple does not feel attached to each other, increasing the quality of marriage by communication skills may be difficult (Montgomery, 1981).Malkoç (2001) has stated that there is a correlation between each communication style and marital adjustment among married couples.More specifically, it has been found that individuals who have lower martial adjustment are more likely to use destructive and less constructive communication styles than individuals who have higher marital adjustment.Gordon and colleagues (2004) have indicated that communication is closely related to marital adjustment among the majority of women; additionally, effective communication is very important while dealing with problems in the marriage in general.Interestingly, communication skills are more functional in terms of predicting the marriage satisfaction among men in comparison with women (Burleson & Denton, 1997).Other factors related to communication are also analysed in order to understand their effect on marriage satisfaction.A limited number have focused on the level of understanding and negative conflicts.Cramer (2001) has stated that the level of understanding is more likely to be higher at the beginning of the relationship among the majority of university students.It was as also found to be correlated with both relationship satisfaction and negative conflicts.The levels of understanding and negative conflicts are important factors influencing relationship satisfaction.In the case of a decreased level of understanding, although the relationship satisfaction can also decrease, the negative conflict can increase.Cramer (2003) has also indicated that negative conflicts experienced damage the partner's feelings of being understood and being accepted; hence, relationship satisfaction is more likely to reduce.Relationship satisfaction is also related to empathetic behaviour as well as the sense of approval.In another study conducted with university students, both minor and serious arguments were analysed and the findings demonstrated that most of the participants believed that arguments about serious subjects can affect relationship satisfaction.Polat (2006) conducted a study investigating marital adjustment, conflicts and the tendency to cheat in a marriage.The findings have illustrated that the majority of men and women who had a higher marital adjustment correspondingly had a lower tendency to conflict.It has been found that when the socioeconomic level is higher, marital adjustment is more likely to increase, although the tendency for conflict decreases among married women.Both women and men who had higher marital adjustment exhibited a lower tendency to cheat their partners.It has been found that men who had a lower tendency for conflict were more likely to cheat on their partners in comparison with women who had lower tendency for conflict in the marriages.The significant factors predicting the tendency to cheat in the marriage were marital adjustment, gender, socioeconomic status and the time spent between the initial date of the relationship and decision to get married.Men were generally found to show an increased tendency to cheat their partners during marriage.As the time spent between the start of the relationship and the decision to get married increased, the tendency to cheat also increased among men.
Although the literature provides information about communication, there are very few studies investigating marital adjustment, cheating and communication skills at the same time for married couples.Therefore, there are questions that must to be answered related to the relationships between these variables.In the current study, marital adjustment, tendency to conflict and cheat among married individuals will be examined.Correlations between these variables will be analysed in the context of gender.Therefore, the aims of the current study are formulated around these questions: 1) Does the tendency to cheat differ in terms of gender among married individuals?2) Does marital adjustment differ in terms of gender among married individuals?3) Does the tendency to conflict differ in terms of gender among married individuals?4) Does the tendency to cheat differ in terms of gender, marital adjustment and tendency to conflict among married individuals?

Sample
The snowball sampling technique was used for the current study.A total of 150 married individuals participated in this study; however, only 130 of the questionnaires were returned and10 questionnaires were incomplete, meaning that120 questionnaires were evaluated.In terms of gender, 50.8% of the participants were female (n=61), while 49.2% of them were male (n=59).

Instruments
A Socio-demographic form, Tendency of Conflict Scale, Marital Adjustment Scale and Tendency of Cheating Scale were used as measurement tools.
The Socio-demographic form was designed by the researchers and consists of information related to age and gender.
Tendency of Cheating Scale was developed by Polat (2006) and the reliability and validity were also tested by Polat (2006).
The Marital Adjustment Scale shows good reliability and validity and it is has been used by many studies (Locke & Wallace, 1959).
Tendency of Conflict Scale was designed by Dökmen (1986) based on the categories of conflicts of communication.The scale aims to measure the level of tendency to conflict.Procedure SPSS (Statistical Package Program for Social Sciences; Istanbul, Turkey) 22.00 was used for analysing the data.Frequencies, percentage and Pearson correlational analysis were used, where 0.05 and 0.01 were accepted as significance levels for all findings.

Results
The current study aimed to investigate the associations between marital adjustment, tendency to cheat and conflict in the context of gender differences.It has been found that 67.5% of both female and male participants made concessions in order to resolve disagreements that they experienced with their partners.Most of the partners have stated that they make concessions to overcome disagreements, which shows that they have good adjustment in their marriage.However, 74.2% of the participants answered that they wished that they had not married.However, the findings are not sufficient to determine the reason of why most of the participants desired not to be married; it is also not clear whether the responsibility of marriage or their experiences with their partners are the factors influencing their answers.Furthermore, 60% of the participants answered negatively when they were asked whether they trusted their partners or not.Only 8.3% of the participants reported that they share a common philosophy with their partners.As shown in Table 1, most of the participants indicated that they do not share a common philosophy of life with their partners.Only 7.5% of the participants stated that they always agree with their partners in relation to their sexual relationship, while 92.5% of the participants stated the opposite (Table 1).It can be said that sexuality remains a taboo subject, which prevents couples from solving the problems related to their sexual relationships.As stated in Table 2, 48.8% of the participants reported that they were not offended easily; similarly, 44.8% of them stated that they are able to control their anger and they do not rebuke their partners when they are angry.However, 41.7% of the participants indicated that they do not accept their mistakes during conflicts.According to Table 3, 57.5% of the participants did not agree with the statement: 'I can have a sexual relationship with a person other than my partner' in the questionnaire, whereas 14.1% of the participants did agree with the statement; in other words, they showed a tendency to cheat on their partners.Furthermore, 39.1% of the participants said that they would not feel guilty if they thought of someone else other than their partner.Additionally, 32.5% of the participants reported that they were unsure regarding the statement: 'I would not risk my marriage for anything' and 34.2% of them stated that they could put their marriage at risk.27.5% of the participants indicated that they had slept with someone else other than their partner during marriage and the rest of the participants (72.5%) stated that they had not.Evidently, the number of participants who stated that they had slept with someone else other than their partners is considerable.However, the findings suggest that there is no significant difference between women and men in terms of the tendency to cheat scores.The significant relationships between marital adjustment, tendency to conflict and cheat have been analysed by Pearson correlation analysis, the results of which are shown in Table 4.There is a significant relationship between marital adjustment and tendency to cheat; in other words, when the level of marital adjustment increases, the tendency to cheat decreases or inversely, when the tendency to cheat increases, the level of marital adjustment decreases.Moreover, there is a positive significant relationship between the tendency to cheat and conflict in both women and men; in other words, when the tendency to cheat increases, the tendency to conflict also increases.Nevertheless, the marital adjustment and tendency to conflict have a negative association for both women and men, which means that when the level of marital adjustment rises, the tendency of conflict decreases or conversely, while the tendency of conflict increases, the level of marital adjustment is reduced.The associations among marital adjustment and tendency to conflict are negative for both female and male participants.In other words, the participants who had higher levels of marital adjustment are less likely to show tendency to conflict.There is a positive association between tendency to conflict and tendency to cheat among both female and male participants.Interestingly, the findings do not suggest a significant difference among women and men in terms of their tendency to cheat in the marriage (Table 5).

Discussion
In general, the findings of the current study demonstrate that the tendencies to cheat and conflict among married couples were negatively correlated with the marital adjustment, which may result in a breakdown of the marriage.The majority of the participants have reported that they usually overcome conflicts through compromise.Supporting Polat (2006), the participants have illustrated that they predominantly share some activities, suggesting there is coherent sharing between them and their partners.It is known that both married women and men who have higher levels of marital adjustment are less likely to experience conflicts with their partners (Polat, 2006).
The current results have shown that sexuality remains taboo among married couples, which prevents them from discussing their problems linked to sexuality.Nevertheless, it was demonstrated that the best predictor of marital satisfaction is the quality of the sexual relationship between married couples; in other words, the marital relationship and familial relationships are negatively affected when partners are not satisfied sexually (Jones & Nelson, 1997).Koerner and Fitzpatrick (2002) conducted research stating that conflict experienced within a family is similar to the conflict experienced in romantic relationships among university students.The current study indicates that most of the participants reported that they were able to control their anger and were also not easily offended.Almost half of the participants in this study also revealed that do not rebuke their partners and they usually accept their mistakes during periods of conflict.In general, the participants in the current study did not show tendency to conflict with their partners.McCubbin and colleagues (1987) have indicated that past life events are mostly associated with personal conflict and the marital roles, which could be a cause of the low level of marital adjustment.
The current study also demonstrates that there was no significant difference between married women and married men in terms of the tendency to cheat.In contrast with the current results, mostly studies examining cheating behaviour among married couples have shown that men are more likely to show the tendency to cheat than women (Atkins et al., 2001, Atwood & Seifer, 1997;Buunk & Bakker, 1995;Egan & Angus, 2004).Also, many studies have demonstrated that men are more likely to have extramarital relationships than women (Polat, 2006;Kantarcı, 2009).
Moreover, the level of marital adjustment for women and men also did not differ according to the current findings.Similarly, previous findings suggest that marital adjustment levels did not differ significantly in terms of gender (Bonds-Raacke et al., 2001;Hamamcı, 2005), whereas other research has stated that men are more likely to have satisfaction related to their marriage than women (Gökmen, 2001), which may consequently affect the level of marital adjustment.In parallel with the current findings, Polat (2006) indicated that both women and men who have a higher level of marital adjustment are less likely to show the tendency to conflict.
It is well known that women and men have different communication cultures (MacGeorge et al., 2004).Communication skills are important attributes that individuals use while communicating with each other (Dökmen, 2002).Nevertheless, different communication skills may cause conflicts among individuals.In terms of marriage, it is important to study communication skills in terms of gender differences, which helps to understand couples' behaviours.According to research conducted by Polat (2006), both men and women who show a higher tendency to conflict with their partners are more likely to cheat on their partners.In support of Polat's (2006) findings, the current study also found that there is a significant positive relationship between the tendency to conflict and tendency to cheat for both male and female participants.In other words, people who show higher tendency to conflict are more likely to cheat on their partners.Atkins and colleagues (2001) stated that conflict between partners can be considered as an important reason for extramarital relationships.Interestingly, partners may realize the importance of communication when cheating is revealed (Olson et al., 2002); on the other hand, communication plays an important role in partners' commitment to each other.
Nevertheless, a positive relationship was found between the level of marital adjustment and the tendency to conflict for both women and men in the current study.Similarly, Sabatalli and colleagues (1986) have suggested that there is a special communication between married couples and the quality of this communication has an impact on the quality of the marriage.
Another study conducted among university students demonstrated that individuals having affiliation care more about nonverbal communication than individuals with everyday relationships; also, they qualify the level of their relationship satisfaction as higher than individuals with everyday relationships (Zusman et al., 2003).
In conclusion, the current study has investigated the level of marital adjustment, tendency to conflict and cheat in terms of gender among married couples in North Cyprus.In general, the findings of the current study are consistent with previous research.Marriage, communication and extramarital relationships are rarely studied in the context of North Cyprus; therefore, this study provides an insight for future research aiming to examine marital adjustment and extramarital relationships, especially in North Cyprus.The current study is important since it considers one of the contemporary issues that impact all societies.Hence, the current study can be useful for therapists who work with married individuals as well as future studies aiming to understand marital relationships.Awareness of the reasons for conflicts in the marriage would be beneficial for solving problems.Nevertheless, the Tendency of Cheating Scale does not provide information related to reasons for cheating in the sexual-emotional context.Therefore, developing new scales investigating the reasons for cheating would help further studies which aim to explore cheating behaviour among married individuals.The theoretical approach indicates that cheating behaviour can be considered in the context of a reward-cost relationship; hence, examining this topic through a theoretical approach would also be helpful.