Causes of Infidelity as Expressed by Literate Working-Class Women in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

The act of infidelity is increasingly high among women and it is causing great concern for stakeholders. This study, therefore, investigated the causes of infidelity as expressed by literate working-class women in Lagos State. The study also examined whether moderating variables such as age and the educational qualification would affect the respondents’ views. A descriptive design was adopted for the study. A total of 300 respondents were drawn from the target population using purposive random sampling and simple random sampling techniques. A researcher-developed questionnaire tagged Causes of Infidelity (CIQ) was used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaire was established by three experts in the Department of Counsellor Education, University of Ilorin. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined using a split-half method and a correlation coefficient of 0.74 was obtained. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 alpha level. Results showed that lack of care and attention, nonchalant attitude of the husband, lack of emotional support, etc. are the causes of infidelity among women. It also showed that there was a significant difference in the causes of infidelity as expressed by literate working-class women based on age but there was no difference based on educational qualification. It was concluded that counsellors should organize seminars for couples to disseminate information on the causes of infidelity among women for possible solutions.