Movies and TV shows make it seem like the office holiday party is the place to get crazy after a couple of cocktails with coworkers. But according to new research, those antics may not just be happening on screen, but in real life, too.
A new survey about infidelity asks 1,158 U.S. adults about infidelity and finds:
- A third (35%) have been enticed to cheat on their partner at the company Christmas celebration.
- And 17% have taken further and actually hooked up with a colleague at a winter workplace party.
- The poll doesn’t specify where these trysts took place, if they were in the office break room or at a bar, but it does give insight into why people are cheating with someone from work and the top reason is they liked the attention (22%).
- Other common reasons for being unfaithful include thinking their partner was cheating (20%), for revenge (18.5%) and needing the rush of excitement (11.7%).
- As for what counts as cheating, respondents consider it kissing someone else or being intimate (45.9%), exchanging suggestive messages (38.7%), and even suggestive body language (31%).
- In general, an ex-partner is the person respondents are most likely to cheat with (20.9%), but a coworker is a close second (18.4%).
- And when it comes to being tempted to cheat, a work colleague is the person they’re most tempted by (38.4%).
The results of the survey aren’t surprising to therapists, including couples therapist Matt Lundquist.
“A lot of people bank more hours at the office than with their spouse, and there’s all kinds of intimacy and tension that builds up in that for sure,” he says. “I suspect most hookups at holiday parties are ones that have been brewing for a while.”
Source: NY Post