Online infidelity: A new dimension in couple relationships with implications for evaluation and treatment

TLDR

Internet addiction and electronic communication have been linked to marital discord, separation, and divorce, with the ACE model explaining how anonymity, convenience, and escape foster cybersexual addiction and virtual adultery. The study examines the emergence of a new dimension in romantic and sexual relationships due to the Internet, outlines warning signs of cyberaffairs, and highlights the need for clinicians to enhance communication, cohesion, and assess for sexual addiction. Interventions target rebuilding trust, improving marital communication, educating couples about potential addictive processes, and restoring commitment after a cyberaffair.

Abstract

Abstract Prior research has examined how Internet addiction can impact couple relationships. This article investigates how with the advent of the Internet a new dimension has been created for romantic and sexual relationships. Reports are suggesting that electronic communication can lead to marital discord, separation, and possible divorce. The ACE model (Anonymity, Convenience, Escape), which was hypothesized as a driving force behind cybersexual addiction, provides a framework to explain the underlying cyber-cultural dynamics that can increase the risk of virtual adultery. Warning signs of a cyberaffair are outlined to alert clients and therapists to this new aspect of couple relationships. Clinicians working in the aftermath of an online romantic and/or sexual encounter need to improve a couple's communication and cohesion and to assess for more severe problems such as sexual addiction. Specific interventions focus on strategies for rebuilding trust, ways to improve marital communication, educating couples on whether these behaviors indicate an underlying addictive process, and how to restore trust and commitment after a cyberaffair.