Investigation of the relationship between attachment styles and intention to cheat in romantic relationships

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between attachment styles and intention to cheat in romantic relationships of young adults and adults. For this purpose, the relationship between young adults and adults' attachment styles and their intention to cheat in their romantic relationships, such as gender, age, relationship type, relationship duration, parental attitude, history of cheating, income level, and parental association were investigated. The research is in relational screening model. The study group consists of 400 (322 Female, 78 Male) people between the ages of 18-65, who have a romantic relationship/who had a romantic relationship in the last 6 months. The data of the study were collected with the Personal Information Form, the Three-Dimensional Attachment Styles Scale and the Intention to Cheat Scale. Pearson Correlation Test and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were used for data analysis. In this study, the LSD test was used in the analyzes in which homogeneity of variance was provided, and the Tamhane or Dunnet test was used in the analyzes where in which homogeneity of variance could not be provided. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there was a significant relationship between the attachment styles of the participants and their intention to cheat. This relationship is between attachment styles and between avoidant attachment style and intention to cheat. Attachment styles and deception intention are demographic variables; including age, duration of relationship, type of relationship, parental attitude and history of cheating. However, it was found that it did not differ according to variables such as gender, income level, and parental union.