Does cheating run in the family?

A man is more likely to stray if his father has been unfaithful, says a new survey.

A woman can learn a lot about her partner’s cheating tendencies by looking at his father, says a new and controversial study.

Research conducted by a team of Czech scientists discovered that, while men and women both have affairs, a man is much more likely to be unfaithful if his father did the same thing while he was growing up.

The scientists, based at Charles University in Prague, enlisted the help of 86 couples to help with their study.

The men and women were questioned individually, focusing specifically on sex, adultery and family backgrounds.

Jan Havlicek, who led the research, told a conference of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association that boys grow up observing the world around them.

Fathers are powerful role models that understandably shape behaviour and personality development.

Women, it emerged, are not affected in the same way by their mothers infidelities. Instead, females are more likely to stray if they are dissatisfied with an area of their relationship.

‘Women have affairs to find a new partner,’ says Havlicek.

Men, on the other hand, tend to stray because they want more sex or a greater number of sexual partners, he continues. It has nothing to do with them being unhappy with their partner.

Does infidelity really run in the family? Has your partner cheated, and was it due to standards set by his father? Perhaps you feel women are equally influenced by family backgrounds and it's wrong to generalise.

Share your thoughts and experiences with Marie Claire by posting a comment below.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE BIG DEBATES