**[DIVORCE RISK]** > “Contrary to conventional wisdom, when it comes to sex, less experience is better, at least for the marriage,” said W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociologist . > women with zero or one previous sex partners before marriage were also least likely to divorce, while those with 10 or more were most likely. These divorce-proof brides are an exclusive crew: By the 2010s, he writes, just 5 percent of new brides were virgins. And just 6 percent of their marriages dissolved within five years, compared with 20 percent for most people. Khazan, O. (2018, October 22). *Fewer Sex Partners Means a Happier Marriage*. The Atlantic. Retrieved July 7, 2020, from [https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/sexual-partners-and-marital-happiness/573493/](https://archive.vn/P5IQ2) X > using data from the three most recent waves of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) collected in 2002, 2006-2010, and 2011-2013. For women marrying since the start of the new millennium: Women with 10 or more partners were the most likely to divorce . > The highest five-year divorce rates of all are associated with marrying in the 2000s and having ten or more premarital sex partners: 33 percent. Perhaps it is not unexpected that having many partners increases the odds of divorce. Wolfinger, N. H., PhD. (2016, June 6). *Counterintuitive Trends in the Link Between Premarital Sex and Marital Stability*. Institute for Family Studies. Retrieved August 24, 2020, from [https://ifstudies.org/blog/counterintuitive-trends-in-the-link-between-premarital-sex-and-marital-stability](https://archive.vn/hukEg) X > [T]here was a correlation between female pre-marital promiscuity and higher rates of divorce. The research, conducted by Jay Teachman, found that women with 16 or more sexual partners prior to marriage had an 80% rate of subsequent divorce. Wikipedia contributors. (2020, June 20). *Female promiscuity*. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:06, July 27, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Female_promiscuity&oldid=963578370 Teachman, J. (2003). Premarital sex, premarital cohabitation and the risk of subsequent marital dissolution among women. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65(2), 444–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00444.x **[INFIDELITY RATES]** > A truism in psychology is that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. This is no less true in the realm of sexual behavior. Indeed, one of the strongest predictors of marital infidelity is one’s number of prior sex partners (Buss, 2000). Deception about past sexual promiscuity would have inflicted greater costs, on average, on men than on women Haselton, M. G., Buss, D. M., Oubaid, V., & Angleitner, A. (2005). *Sex, Lies, and Strategic Interference: The Psychology of Deception Between the Sexes*. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167204271303 X > Contrary to the myth, partners who’ve had many partners have a harder, not easier, time remaining monogamous. They are significantly more at risk of straying than those with little or no prior sexual experience. Staik, A., PhD. (2019, March 28). *10 Predictors of Infidelity and Gender Differences: Why Do Partners Cheat?* Retrieved July 15, 2020, from [https://blogs.psychcentral.com/relationships/2014/08/a-look-at-infidelity-why-do-partners-cheat/](http://archive.is/bPRPy) X > approximately half of women in the top quintiles of sociosexuality [*def*. willingness to engage in sexual activity outside of a committed relationship] had been sexually unfaithful to a steady partner; this was more than a tenfold increase over the corresponding rate for people in the bottom quintiles. Bailey, J. M., Kirk, K. M., Zhu, G., Dunne, M. P., & Martin, N. G. (2000). *Do individual differences in sociosexuality represent genetic or environmentally contingent strategies? Evidence from the Australian twin registry*. Journal of personality and social psychology, 78(3), 537–545. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.78.3.537 X > In illustration of this, the odds ratio of 1.13 for lifetime sexual partners obtained with the face-to-face mode of interview indicates that the probability of infidelity increased by 13% for every additional lifetime sexual partner . > Regarding the correlates of infidelity, results indicated that on the basis of both methods of assessment, the probability of sexual infidelity increased with higher number of lifetime sexual partners Whisman, M. A., & Snyder, D. K. (2007). *Sexual infidelity in a national survey of American women: Differences in prevalence and correlates as a function of method of assessment*. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(2), 147–154. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.2.147 X > Our findings demonstrate that infidelity and number of sexual partners are both under moderate genetic influence (41% and 38% heritable, respectively) and the genetic correlation between these two traits is strong (47%). The resulting genetic correlation between the two traits was .47, so nearly half the genes impacting on infidelity also affect number of sexual partners. The correlation of the unique environment between the two variables was .48. Cherkas, L. F., Oelsner, E. C., Mak, Y. T., Valdes, A., & Spector, T. D. (2004). Genetic influences on female infidelity and number of sexual partners in humans: a linkage and association study of the role of the vasopressin receptor gene (AVPR1A). Twin research : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies, 7(6), 649–658. https://doi.org/10.1375/1369052042663922 X > The high correlation for females (r = .79) between reported numbers of sex partners and EPC partners [extra-pair copulation partners *def*. sexual partners other than primary partner while in a monogamous relationship] may bear on questions of both paternity and abandonment in the face of infidelity. . > [P]romiscuity is in fact a good predictor of infidelity. Indeed, promiscuity among females accounted for almost twice as much variance in infidelity (r^2 = .45) as it did for males (r^2 = .25). Hughes, S. M. , & Gallup, G. G. (2003). *Sex differences in morphological predictors of sexual behavior: Shoulder to hip and waist to hip ratios*. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(3), 173–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00149-6 X > Sexual promiscuity was significantly positively correlated with emotional promiscuity [r(356) = .261, p < .001], as well with sexual infidelity [r(323) = .595, p < .001] and emotional infidelity [r(323) = .676, p < .001], indicating that sexually promiscuous participants also tend to be emotionally promiscuous, and sexually and emotionally unfaithful. In terms of the sexual domain, results showed that there is also a positive correlation between sexual promiscuity and sexual infidelity, stating that individuals that tend to be more sexually promiscuous also tend to be more sexually unfaithful. Pinto, R., & Arantes, J. (2017). The Relationship between Sexual and Emotional Promiscuity and Infidelity. ATHENS JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, 4(4), 385–398. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajss.4-4-3 X > Women’s number of pre-marital partners: percent [of wives] who cheated once married > - 2: 10.4% > - 3: 14.9% > - 4: 17.7% > - 5: 21.6% > - 6-10: 26.0% > - 11-20: 36.7% > - 21+: 46.8% NORC General Social Survey. (2011, October 02). *Female Infidelity Based on Number of Premarital Partners — Statistic Brain*. Retrieved July 5, 2015, from [http://www.statisticbrain.com/percent-of-female-infidelity-based-on-number-of-premarital-partners/](http://archive.is/SDVEU) X > For people in this survey who reported four or fewer lifetime sexual partners, the rate of infidelity in the current marriage dropped to 11%, while for those who had five or more sexual partners the number was nearly double . > [I]nfidelity is also often the fruit of a lifelong approach to mating that involves seeking and practicing short-term mating encounters that encourage sexual variety at all stages and into marriage. McQuivey, J. L., PhD. (2019, October 14). *The Road to Infidelity Passes Through Multiple Sexual Partners*. Retrieved July 16, 2020, from [https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-road-to-infidelity-passes-through-multiple-sexual-partners-](http://archive.vn/IUs6E)