Infidelity is a common reason couples seek therapeutic help as betrayed partners are often hurt and dismayed by their partners' decision to engage in an extradyadic relationship. Despite its common occurrence, there are very few empirical studies of the decision-making process behind infidelity. To address this gap, the current study used grounded theory, a qualitative approach commonly used to develop theories from participants' experiences, to explore men's processes in deciding to engage in infidelity. Analysis of interviews with participants (n = 13) resulted in a grounded theory of decision-making by cisgender men who participated in infidelity while in a committed, heterosexual relationship. The results suggest that the decision involves a continuous process of justification and rationalization. Major categories of the theory include the preaffair context, snowballing, motivated reasoning, and postaffair decisions. Clinical implications are also included.

中文翻译：

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循序渐进：男性不忠决策过程的基础理论

不忠是夫妻寻求治疗帮助的一个常见原因，因为被背叛的伴侣经常因为伴侣决定建立一种额外的关系而受到伤害和沮丧。尽管不忠现象屡见不鲜，但对不忠行为背后决策过程的实证研究却很少。为了解决这一差距，当前的研究使用扎根理论（一种常用于从参与者的经历中发展理论的定性方法）来探索男性决定不忠的过程。对参与者（ n = 13）的访谈分析 得出了关于在忠诚的异性恋关系中参与不忠行为的顺性别男性决策的基础理论。结果表明，该决定涉及一个持续的论证和合理化过程。该理论的主要类别包括事前背景、滚雪球、动机推理和事后决策。临床意义也包括在内。