Sex and Relationships

Is infidelity in the genes?

New research suggests that the reason some of us remain faithful in a relationship, while others stray, could be down to our genes.

Scientists conducted a study of 1,600 female twins and found that while the normal likelihood of infidelity in women is 22%, having an identical twin who is unfaithful makes the likelihood 44%.

It concluded that 40% of our desire to cheat comes from the genetic make-up we've inherited from our parents - meaning some people are more likely to commit adultery.

If infidelity is something that runs in our genes, is there anything that we can do to prevent it?

In her influential book Not "Just Friends": Recovering Trust and Recovering Your Sanity After Infidelity, Dr Shirley Glass advises "developing a personal strategy for protecting yourself and your relationship from the fallout of acting on impulses."

Here are her tips for controlling those urges:

• Know that attraction is normal - but feeling it doesn't mean you have to act on it. Being attracted to someone doesn't mean that you've chosen to be with the wrong person.
  
• Don't let yourself fantasise about what it would be like to be with the other person. Affairs begin in the mind.
  
• Don't flirt. To look is human, but flirting signals that you're available and you send out an invitation of receptivity.
  
• Avoid risky situations. After a skiing accident, President Clinton never went skiing again. He should have shown similar caution when Monika Lewinsky flirted with him.