The Gray Area: Exploring Attitudes Toward Infidelity and the Development of the Perceptions of Dating Infidelity Scale

Prior research has distinguished between emotional versus sexual infidelity. Two studies examined the development of the Perceptions of Dating Infidelity Scale (PDIS) to assess attitudes toward specific behaviors that constitute these types of infidelity in romantic relationships. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated three factors to the scale: Ambiguous, Deceptive, and Explicit behaviors. In both studies, there were gender differences on ratings of the behaviors. The construct validity of the scale was assessed with measures of sociosexual orientation, guilt, and coping with unwanted sexual situations. It was found that the Ambiguous behaviors were positively correlated with avoidance of unwanted sexual situations, while the Deceptive and Explicit scales were positively correlated with guilt and avoidance and negatively associated with an unrestricted sociosexual orientation and acting on attractions toward friends.