Extramarital Sex and Divorce More Common Among Veterans, Study Says

A new study presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Assocation found that more than 32 percent of veterans who have been married at some point in their lives reported having extramarital sex. This number is almost twice the rate reported by non-veterans who have been married at some point.

The study also found that among the married population of the survey, veterans were almost 10 percent more likely to have gotten divorce than their non-veteran counterparts.

Researchers looked at data from the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey. The researchers focused particularly on the 2,308 18-60-year-old respondents who were married at some point in their lives. Respondents of the 1992 survey were asked questions about military service, extramarital sex, and marital and divorce history

The study considered both men and women, but the researchers admit that their data set did not include enough female veterans to draw definitive conclusions about them as a separate group.

"The results of this study provide robust evidence that veteran status was strongly associated with an increased likelihood of extramarital sex and divorce - at least among men - and suggest that the odds of extramarital sex and divorce might also be elevated among female veterans," said Andrew London, the sociology department chair and a sociology professor at Syracuse University.

Researchers say the study has brought about new question. "We do not know from these data whether the extramarital sex occurred prior to, during, or after the conclusion of the respondent's military service, and we do not know the military service status of spouses," London said. "New, relatively large-scale data collection initiatives that follow people over time, examine different stages of life, and collect state-of-the-science measurements of military service experiences, sexual behavior, and marriage and family outcomes from husbands and wives are desperately needed."

London believes that these findings can lead to increased understanding of some of the problems faced by military and veteran families.