These findings were published on 14/11 in Social Science Research, a journal featuring research by professors from Johns Hopkins University in the US and Fudan University Shanghai.
The authors analyzed data from 4,006 married individuals who participated in the Chinese Private Life Survey (CPLS).
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Chinese men are more prone to infidelity when their wives have higher educational attainment but lower income than their husbands, according to the research. Illustration: Gary Waters/Fanatic Studio/VCG |
The results indicate that men are least likely to engage in infidelity when both spouses have comparable educational levels. However, this risk sharply increases by 6,5 times if the husband's education is lower than his partner's.
Notably, experts observed the highest risk of infidelity, reaching 66%, within the group where "the wife is more educated but the husband earns more". The research team explained that men in this situation leverage their economic power to compensate for their educational inferiority. Seeking extramarital affairs becomes a means for them to assert their status and reinforce traditional patriarchal order.
Conversely, the rate of male infidelity drops to nearly 0 when the wife surpasses her husband in both education and income. In such cases, the husband is financially dependent on his wife, thus avoiding the risk of jeopardizing financial support for extramarital adventures.
Furthermore, men are also very unlikely to be unfaithful if both spouses share similar educational backgrounds and the husband earns more. This pattern aligns with traditional expectations in China, a nation of billions, contributing to greater marital harmony and stability. Meanwhile, the study found no clear correlation between educational disparities and infidelity among women.
In fact, since 2009, Chinese women have outnumbered men in university enrollment. This trend challenges traditional notions that women should marry men of higher status. Nevertheless, the authors concluded that women's higher educational attainment has not yet led to true marital equality, as patriarchal norms continue to persist.
Minh Phuong (According to Sixth Tone)
