Structural Modeling of the Relationship between Personality Dimensions with a Tendency toward Marital Infidelity: the Mediating Effect of Religious Beliefs

 Marital infidelity is defined as a sexual, romantic, or emotional relationship, which causes a person's infidelity towards its marital relationship and is known as one of the destructive events in intimate relationships and often leads to turmoil, dispute, dissolution, and divorce. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality dimensions and marital infidelity based on the mediating role of religious beliefs.

 The sample population was all married couples in Tehran in 2021, of whom 350 were selected by accessible sampling method. For data collection, McCree and Costa’s NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised, Bashirpour et al.’s Marital Infidelity Tendency Questionnaire, and Golriz’s Religious Attitude Questionnaire were used. In order to test the research model, the path analysis method was used by the maximum probability. In this study, all ethical considerations were observed and the authors reported no conflict of interests.

 Based on the results, neuroticism had negative and extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and consciousness had positive effects on religious beliefs. Also, religious beliefs had a negative effect on marital infidelity. The neuroticism both directly and indirectly, affected the tendency toward marital infidelity with the mediating role of religious beliefs. According to the results, 47.5% of the variance in religious beliefs and 76.5% of the variance in marital infidelity were explained by the variables of the model.

 It can be stated that religion and religious beliefs can have a negative impact on marital infidelity. The key to living without conflict is to pay attention to spiritual issues and to cultivate religious beliefs. Values give meaning to life and act as a refuge when faced with life crises such as sadness, loss, and mourning. Religion provides couples with instructions on how to deal with and resolve conflicts when they arise.