Identifying Men's Intellectual and Behavioral Reaction after Spousal Infidelity: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this study was to identify undivorced men's intellectual and behavioral reactions after discovering their spouse's extramarital relationships. The research method was qualitative by descriptive phenomenological method. The research environment was all of betrayed men in Yazd province who had not divorced after their spouse infidelity, in 2019. Using purposive sampling, and snowball sampling, 12 participants were selected. The method of collecting data was semi-structured in-depth interviews, which were analyzed based on Colaizzi method, which is one of the phenomenological methods. The results showed that men's reactions were summarized in four main categories or themes: maladaptive immediate reactions, self-sacrifice, thoughtful arrangements and rumination. These main categories were divided into fifteen sub-categories. Thus, the reaction of betrayed men, from rational behaviors to high-risk emotional behaviors, reflects the fact that infidelity and extramarital relation of women can activate men's intellectual and behavioral reactions. In other words, it is possible that a spouse's annoying mental reaction may lead to high-risky behaviors and lead to worse events.