ASHLEY MADISON HACKING SCANDAL: THE SCIENCE BEHIND CHEATING

If you don't know about this scandal AshleyMadison.com was hacked earlier this year listing millions of people in committed relationships as members on its site. Identities of 37 million were allegedly released and has resulted in an international investigation, lawsuits and widespread embarrassment. With a slogan like "Life is short. Have an affair." It's no surprise that Ashley Madison got as much coverage as it did.

Now science has a reason .

"There's almost as many different reasons for why people cheat as there are people," said Pepper Schwartz, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington and co-author of "Snap Strategies for Couples: 40 Fast Fixes for Everyday Relationship Pitfalls" (Seal Press, 2015).

But most cheating falls into two main categories, she said.

Cheating Categories

The first category applies to people who are bored and not particularly happy with their sex life, even if the sex isn't that bad, Schwartz said.

"They've been in a relationship for a long time, and they long for the excitement of something new," Schwartz continued. "Oftentimes, these people aren't actively looking for an affair, but they take advantage of meeting a cute crush at a conference, workplace or reunion."

Ashley Madison welcomes these people.

In fact, research presented by the website last year at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association revealed that married women log on to Ashley Madisonare looking for more romantic passion, and sex, in their lives. They weren't unhappy with their husbands and didn't want a divorce, according to the lead researcher of the study, Eric Anderson, chief science officer at AshleyMadison.com.

The other category is for people in unhappy relationships.

"They don't want to leave their marriage for various reasons — children, money, you name it — but they're just sort of aching for something that's emotionally reinforcing," Schwartz said. "And a lot of people use sex for that or pursue another relationship."

"...for those in unsatisfying marriages, some stray to get revenge on a partner, and some just want to find more satisfying sex, although research indicates revenge doesn't typically motivate an affair."

"It could be a ho-hum sex life, but you don't have to have a bad sex life to cheat, and you don't have to be out of love with your partner to cheat," Schwartz said.

"It's a rare group, but it's not impossible for couples to have an understanding that it's not going to be entirely monogamous forever," Schwartz said.

Breadwinners and Cheating

Money can also play a role in cheating. The more economically dependent people are on their partners, the more likely they are to cheat, especially if they are men, said Christin Munsch, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. This measure is in terms of how much one partner earns relative to the other. Surveys show that although both men and women in heterosexual marriages cheat on their breadwinning spouses, men were a lot more likely to be unfaithful when their wives had higher incomes than vice versa.

This is perhaps because society emphasizes masculine norms — for instance, that men should be macho moneymakers — some men feel inadequate if they're making less than their female partner, Munsch said.

Performance anxiety can research also up the chances of infidelity, according to published in 2011 in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. That study revealed that men and women who feared sexual failure were 6 percent and 8 percent more likely, respectively, to cheat than others. "We know that, under conditions of threat to masculinity, men are more likely to engage in hypermasculine behaviors," such as cheating or sex, she said.

"[These behaviors] also allows you to punish the person who is threatening you, your breadwinning spouse."

Male breadwinners are also more likely to cheat than female breadwinners, possibly because they have more opportunity to do so. For instance, women breadwinners may have less time to go philandering because they do more housework and child care than men, Munsch said. We all know that cheating is made easier by opportunity.

"Men in female-dominated occupations are around a bunch of women all the time," she said, to re-establish their masculinity if it feels threatened they may cheat.

A sad fact is that the proximity of the opposite sex may not even be a problem anymore given the online community and websites like Ashley Madison.

What does this all mean?

There are numerous reasons out there that try to give reasons as to why people cheat. It may be biology, opportunity, indvidual will power, it may be a combination of these things or none of these things at all. At the end of the day, a strong relationship will prevail. Treat your partner the way you want to be treated because that is what becoming one means.