Military veterans 'more likely to engage in extramarital sex'

Researchers have found that military veterans were significantly more likely to have ever engaged in extramarital sex and ever gotten divorced than people who were never in the military

The study, based on data from a 1992 national survey, found that more than 32 percent of ever-married veterans reported extramarital sex, which is about twice the rate among ever-married non-veterans.

"To the extent that the patterns observed in these data hold for our current veteran population, the results of this study provide evidence that the concerns about infidelity among spouses of persons who have served in the military are to a considerable degree valid," said Andrew S. London, chair of the sociology department and a sociology professor at Syracuse University.

"However, even though the reported rates of infidelity were significantly higher for veterans than non-veterans, extramarital sex was only reported by one-third of ever-married veteran respondents," he revealed.

The study also found that among those who had ever married, veterans were almost 10 percent more likely to have gotten divorced (38.5 percent compared to 28.9 percent).

The findings will be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.