High (in)fidelity: gender, the Dark Tetrad, and infidelity

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant frequency responses to previous physical infidelity and previous emotional infidelity.

	Physical Infidelity			Emotional Infidelity
	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
Never	70%	61.8%	72%	63.3%	56.4%	65.4%
Very rarely	10%	10.9%	9.9%	9.2%	14.5%	7.7%
Rarely	6.3%	3.6%	7.1%	8.3%	3.6%	9.3%
Occasionally	5.4%	9.1%	4.4%	12.1%	18.2%	10.4%
Somewhat Frequently	5.0%	12.7%	–	2.1%	1.8%	2.2%
Frequently	1.7%	–	2.7%	3.3%	5.5%	2.7%
Very Frequently	1.7%	1.8%	2.2%	1.7%	–	2.2%

Table 2. Total and sex differentiated zero-order correlations, descriptive statistics, and t-tests.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Total Correlations
1. Narcissism	–
2. Psychopathy	.31**	–
3. Machiavellianism	.24**	.52**	–
4. Sadism	.30**	.52**	.47**	–
5. Physical infidelity	.18**	.27**	.13*	.18**	–
6. Emotional Infidelity	.22**	.29**	.18*	.18**	.65**
7. Malevolent infidelity	.16*	.35**	.33**	.38**	.23**	.26**	–
Correlations by Sex
1. Narcissism	–	.25**a	.23**a	.22**a	.10a	.15*b	.08b
2. Psychopathy	.44**a	–	.53**a	.49**a	.22**a	.26**a	.30**b
3. Machiavellianism	.31*a	.50**a	–	.45**a	.14a	.20**a	.32**a
4. Sadism	.48**a	.56**a	.50**a	–	.06b	.10b	.31**b
5. Physical infidelity	.32*a	.37**a	.12a	.39**a	–	.64**a	.18*a
6. Emotional Infidelity	.41**a	.36**a	.13a	.39**a	.69**a	–	.22**a
7. Malevolent infidelity	.50**a	.60**a	.40*a	.65**a	.41**a	.44**a	–
Total M (SD)	24.67 (5.25)	19.76 (5.52)	25.03 (5.71)	1.13 (1.79)	1.77 (1.44)	1.97 (1.53)	3.31 (2.51)
Men M (SD)	25.94 (5.55)	21.04 (6.04)	25.19 (6.16)	1.60 (2.28)	2.07 (1.63)	2.11 (1.55)	3.02 (2.41)
Women M (SD)	24.36 (5.12)	19.41(5.33)	24.97 (5.54)	0.98 (1.58)	1.69 (1.38)	1.93 (1.54)	3.38 (2.53)
t-value	1.96*	1.92*	0.25	1.89*	1.57	0.74	−0.93
Hedge’s g	0.30	0.29	0.04	0.05	−0.04	−0.19	−0.44

Note. Correlation coefficients below the diagonal are for men, correlation coefficients above the diagonal are for women; different subscript indicates correlations between sexes differ at Fisher’s z, p < .05; * p < .05; ** p < .01.

Table 3. Coefficients for gender, narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism regressed on physical infidelity, emotional infidelity, and malevolent infidelity.

	B (95% CI)	SE	β	T
Physical Infidelity
Constant	0.26 (-0.99 − 1.52)	0.64
Gender	−0.24 (-0.68 − 0.19)	0.22	−0.07	−1.10
Narcissism	0.03 (-0.01 − 0.06)	0.02	.09	1.39
Psychopathy	0.06 (0.02 − 0.11)	0.02	.24	2.96**
Machiavellianism	−0.01 (-0.05 − 0.03)	0.02	−0.03	−0.45
Sadism	0.04 (-0.09 − 0.17)	0.07	.05	0.59
Emotional Infidelity
Constant	−0.49 (-1.81 − 0.84)	0.67
Gender	−0.01 (-0.47 − 0.45)	0.23	−0.01	−0.05
Narcissism	0.04 (0.00 − 0.08)	0.02	.15	2.19*
Psychopathy	0.07 (0.02 − 0.11)	0.02	.24	3.01**
Machiavellianism	0.01 (0.04 − 0.04)	0.02	.01	0.10
Sadism	0.01 (-0.13– 0.14)	0.07	.01	0.04
Malevolent Infidelity
Constant	−1.68 (-4.02 − 0.55)	1.19
Gender	0.73 (0.03 − 1.43)	0.35	.12	2.05*
Narcissism	0.01 (-0.5 − 0.07)	0.03	.02	0.32
Psychopathy	0.08 (0.02 − 0.15)	0.03	.18	2.42*
Machiavellianism	0.06 (-0.01 − 0.12)	0.03	.13	1.79
Sadism	0.38 (0.17 − 0.58)	0.10	.26	3.62***

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; Gender is coded as 0 = men, 1 = women.

Figure 1. Conditional effects for the moderator (sex), predictors (narcissism and sadism), and criterions (physical and malevolent forms of infidelity); low = -1 SD; average = M; high = +1SD.

Table 4. Conditional effects for the moderator (sex), predictors (narcissism and sadism), and criterions (physical and malevolent forms of infidelity).

	Effect (95% CI)	SE	t
Physical Infidelity
Sadism
Men	0.28 (0.11; 0.45)	0.08	3.32**
Women	0.05 (-0.08; 0.18)	0.07	0.79
Narcissism
Men	0.10 (0.03; 0.17)	0.04	2.73**
Women	0.03 (-0.01; 0.07)	0.02	1.32
Malevolent Infidelity
Narcissism
Men	0.22 (0.10; 0.34)	0.06	3.60**
Women	0.04 (-0.03; 0.11)	0.04	1.03

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; Gender is coded as 0 = men, 1 = women.

Data availability statement

The data are not publicly available due to ethical approval restrictions.