Women can be more promiscuous than men

The UK Adultery Survey 2012 found that once women decide to play away, they are far more likely to play the field in search of love.

Research into the behaviour of 4,000 people suggested that women are more promiscuous, having an average of 2.3 secret lovers compared to a mere 1.8 for men, a major newspaper reported.

While explaining their reasons to cheat, the men say the pursuit of sexual excitement, boredom with their marriages and the need of an ego boost are the main causes. Women say their reasons could be anything from looking for emotional fulfillment, an improvement to their self esteem to romance.

Women adulterers are also far more prone to falling in love with their illicit lovers than their male equivalents.

According to the owner of a dating site for married people seeking affairs with some 600,000 members, the survey's results challenged the general assumption that men are more adulterous than women.

"Once they have made the huge decision to have an affair, women have far more opportunity to actually find someone to cheat with and are generally in control of deciding if and when to consummate the relationship once they do," she said.

The survey also found that women are likely to be the first to get itchy feet in a marriage.