Infidelity's Coexistence With Intimate Partner Violence: An Interpretive Description of Women Who Survived a Partner's Sexual Affair

Infidelity is commonly understood as hurtful communication because it involves a relational transgression and devaluation. This qualitative study of 65 women who survived a partner's sexual affair expands the literature on infidelity and hurt by exploring its coexistence with intimate partner violence (IPV). IPV organizes the infidelity narratives into six categories: social, economic, emotional, and psychological aggression as well as sexual and physical violence. Infidelity's coexistence with IPV is not infidelity as a precipitating factor for IPV or infidelity as part of a pattern of violent or aggressive behaviors. Instead, in these narratives, infidelity embodies the aforementioned forms of IPV.