Table 2. The most and least acceptable justifications for sexual betrayal.1

Mean Scores 2, 3
Most Acceptable Justifications Total Sample Males Females
fell in love with new person 1.90 2.21 1.72
was from a different culture where women are expected to have many sexual partners before marriage 1.83 2.14 1.67
knew her boyfriend had recently had sex with someone else 1.79 2.00 1.68
wanted to break up with her boyfriend 1.65 1.88 1.52
Least Acceptable Justifications  
had done the same thing before and gotten away with it 1.10 1.19 1.04
knew her friends did the same thing 1.17 1.36 1.08
wanted to make her new male friend happy 1.20 1.46 1.05
was certain no one would ever find out 1.22 1.36 1.12
was unhappy, thought it would make her feel better 1.22 1.36 1.14

1 We present here items for female transgressors, but there were comparable items for male trangressors.

2 1 = totally unacceptable, 2 = somewhat unacceptable, 3 = somewhat acceptable, 4 = totally uacceptable

3 SDs: Total Sample .41 -- .97; Males .62 -- 1.08; Females .38 -- 1.08