A study conducted at Texas Tech University has revealed that philandering individuals may have been tempted to cheat because their parents also did the same.
"Individuals who had a parent cheat are twice as likely to have cheated compared to their peers whose parents have not cheated," the study authors revealed.
Study leader Dr. Dana Weiser said that parents inherently influence their children's perception on romantic relationships in the way they communicate infidelity, both verbally and non-verbally.
"Parents may try to justify their behavior or paint infidelity as more acceptable, which then impacts their child's beliefs and behaviors. Parents teach their children about what is acceptable and rewarding in romantic relationships and parents' behaviors may have some unintended consequences for their children's own romantic relationships," said Wieser, according to Self.
When children grow up to form their own romantic relationships, whatever they've absorbed and internalized from the relationships of their parents then come into play.
The findings seem to support a previous study done by University of Queensland psychologist Brendan P. Zietsch, which revealed that cheaters carry oxytocin and vasopressin receptor genes that likely make them cheat, according to The New York Times.
However, this doesn't mean there's no hope for those with a history of cheating in the gene pool, as a person can still break the cycle and not make the same mistakes.
"Parent infidelity history is just one predictor of infidelity," the study author emphasized. "There are a lot of individuals whose parents cheated but who are extremely diligent in their relationships."
Weiser suggested that a person must be willing to work on his or her relationship skills. Learning how to communicate and acknowledging what they expect from partners are some ways a person can begin building solid relationships that will not likely have issues of cheating.
The study was published in the Journal of Family Issues.
