“About 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will have an affair at some point in their marriage” (Vaughan, 2003).

Affairs affect one of every 2.7 couples according to counselor Janis Abrahms Spring. Ten percent of extramarital affairs last one day, 10 percent last more than one day but less than a month, 50 percent last more than a month but less than a year, but 40 percent last two or more years. Few extramarital affairs last more than four years.

A lesser-known fact is that those who divorce rarely marry the person with whom they are having the affair. For example, Dr. Jan Halper’s study of successful men (executives, entrepreneurs, professionals) found that very few men who have affairs divorce their wife and marry their lovers. Only 3 percent of the 4,100 successful men surveyed eventually married their lovers (“Infidelity and Cheating Statistics,” 2004).

Frank Pittman found that the divorce rate among those who married their lovers was 75 percent. The reasons for the high divorce rate include the intervention of reality, guilt, expectations, a general distrust of marriage, and a distrust of the affairee (ibid).

It is estimated that 53% of all people will have one or more affairs during their lifetime. Look at the numbers from a recent issue of Playboy Magazine (ibid):
- 2 out of 3 women and 3 out of 4 men admit they have sexual thoughts about co-workers.
- 86% of men and 81% of women admit they routinely flirt with the opposite sex.
- 75% of men and 65% of women admit to having sex with people they work with.