Extra-marital sex (Demographic Patterns)

What is your opinion about a married person having sexual relations with someone other than the marriage partner? Results weighted by WTCOMBNR (General Social Survey 2010 Cross-Section and Panel Combined)

Extra-marital sex by Sex

	Male	Female	TOTAL
Always wrong	76.5% 1148	82.3% 1412	79.6% 2560
Almost always wrong	13.3% 199	11.2% 193	12.2% 392
Sometimes wrong	7.2% 108	3.7% 63	5.3% 171
Not wrong at all	1.7% 25	1.3% 23	1.5% 48
Dont know	0.7% 11	1.1% 19	0.9% 30
No answer	0.6% 9	0.3% 6	0.5% 15
Missing	757	927	1684
TOTAL	100.0% 1500	100.0% 1716	3216

Extra-marital sex by Political ideology

	Extremely liberal or liberal	Slightly liberal	Moderate	Slightly conservative	Conservative	Extremely conservative	Missing	TOTAL
Always wrong	65.0% 333	70.9% 271	82.6% 935	85.5% 365	86.9% 472	81.3% 104	80	79.4% 2480
Almost always wrong	18.6% 95	21.5% 82	9.8% 111	9.8% 42	7.9% 43	10.2% 13	6	12.4% 386
Sometimes wrong	10.0% 51	5.2% 20	4.8% 54	3.7% 16	3.3% 18	7.0% 9	5	5.4% 168
Not wrong at all	4.5% 23	1.0% 4	1.5% 17	0.2% 1	0.4% 2	0.8% 1	1	1.5% 48
Dont know	0.4% 2	1.3% 5	1.1% 13	0.5% 2	0.7% 4	0.8% 1	3	0.9% 27
No answer	1.6% 8	0.0% 0	0.2% 2	0.2% 1	0.7% 4	0.0% 0	0	0.5% 15
Missing	267	217	592	243	252	64	0	1635
TOTAL	100.0% 512	100.0% 382	100.0% 1132	100.0% 427	100.0% 543	100.0% 128	95	3124

Extra-marital sex by Age

	18 to 29 years old	30 to 44 years old	45 to 59 years old	60 to 74 years old	75 years or older	Missing	TOTAL
Always wrong	82.3% 483	79.4% 683	78.1% 740	79.5% 442	79.7% 189	22	79.6% 2537
Almost always wrong	11.1% 65	10.9% 94	13.9% 132	12.1% 67	13.5% 32	1	12.2% 390
Sometimes wrong	5.1% 30	7.4% 64	4.9% 46	5.0% 28	1.3% 3	0	5.4% 171
Not wrong at all	1.0% 6	1.0% 9	1.9% 18	2.7% 15	0.0% 0	0	1.5% 48
Dont know	0.5% 3	0.9% 8	1.0% 9	0.5% 3	1.7% 4	2	0.8% 27
No answer	0.0% 0	0.2% 2	0.2% 2	0.2% 1	3.8% 9	0	0.4% 14
Missing	378	442	462	272	106	0	1660
TOTAL	100.0% 587	100.0% 860	100.0% 947	100.0% 556	100.0% 237	25	3187

Extra-marital sex by Region

	Northeast	Midwest	South	West	Missing	TOTAL
Always wrong	72.5% 382	80.7% 556	82.0% 1028	79.6% 593	1	79.6% 2559
Almost always wrong	15.9% 84	13.2% 91	10.4% 131	11.5% 86	0	12.2% 392
Sometimes wrong	7.0% 37	3.5% 24	4.9% 62	6.4% 48	0	5.3% 171
Not wrong at all	1.5% 8	1.5% 10	1.6% 20	1.3% 10	0	1.5% 48
Dont know	2.8% 15	0.9% 6	0.3% 4	0.7% 5	0	0.9% 30
No answer	0.2% 1	0.3% 2	0.7% 9	0.4% 3	0	0.5% 15
Missing	318	362	622	381	0	1683
TOTAL	100.0% 527	100.0% 689	100.0% 1254	100.0% 745	1	3215

Extra-marital sex by Religion

	Protestant	Catholic	Jewish	None	Other	Missing	TOTAL
Always wrong	85.3% 1336	79.4% 638	63.9% 39	68.4% 357	72.8% 177	13	79.7% 2547
Almost always wrong	8.9% 139	11.6% 93	32.8% 20	18.2% 95	17.3% 42	3	12.2% 389
Sometimes wrong	3.2% 50	6.3% 51	3.3% 2	10.0% 52	6.2% 15	1	5.3% 170
Not wrong at all	1.2% 19	1.4% 11	0.0% 0	2.7% 14	1.2% 3	1	1.5% 47
Dont know	0.8% 12	1.1% 9	0.0% 0	0.8% 4	1.6% 4	2	0.9% 29
No answer	0.7% 11	0.2% 2	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.8% 2	0	0.5% 15
Missing	768	440	32	287	143	0	1670
TOTAL	100.0% 1567	100.0% 804	100.0% 61	100.0% 522	100.0% 243	20	3197

Extra-marital sex by Race

	White	Black	Other	TOTAL
Always wrong	79.5% 1954	82.2% 347	76.5% 260	79.6% 2561
Almost always wrong	12.9% 318	7.6% 32	12.4% 42	12.2% 392
Sometimes wrong	5.0% 124	5.9% 25	6.8% 23	5.3% 172
Not wrong at all	1.3% 32	2.8% 12	1.2% 4	1.5% 48
Dont know	0.9% 22	1.2% 5	1.2% 4	1.0% 31
No answer	0.3% 7	0.2% 1	2.1% 7	0.5% 15
Missing	1269	240	174	1683
TOTAL	100.0% 2457	100.0% 422	100.0% 340	3219

Extra-marital sex by Church attendance

	Less than once a year	Once a year	Several times a year	One to three times a month	Nearly every week	Once a week or more	Missing	TOTAL
Always wrong	70.9% 652	73.2% 317	80.8% 282	81.7% 437	86.7% 104	87.9% 532	235	78.5% 2324
Almost always wrong	16.0% 147	15.7% 68	12.0% 42	12.9% 69	8.3% 10	6.9% 42	14	12.8% 378
Sometimes wrong	9.1% 84	6.9% 30	2.9% 10	4.3% 23	4.2% 5	2.5% 15	6	5.6% 167
Not wrong at all	2.2% 20	2.5% 11	2.3% 8	0.6% 3	0.0% 0	0.8% 5	2	1.6% 47
Dont know	1.1% 10	0.9% 4	1.7% 6	0.6% 3	0.0% 0	1.3% 8	0	1.0% 31
No answer	0.8% 7	0.7% 3	0.3% 1	0.0% 0	0.8% 1	0.5% 3	1	0.5% 15
Missing	495	250	161	251	89	310	0	1556
TOTAL	100.0% 920	100.0% 433	100.0% 349	100.0% 535	100.0% 120	100.0% 605	258	2962

Notes

The General Social Surveys (GSS) have been conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) annually since 1972, except for the years 1979, 1981, and 1992 (a supplement was added in 1992), and biennially beginning in 1994. The GSS are designed to be part of a program of social indicator research, replicating questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time-trend studies. This data file has all cases and variables asked on the 2010 GSS. There are a total of 4,901 cases in the data set but their initial sampling years vary because the GSS now contains panel cases. Sampling years can be identified with the variable SAMPTYPE.