Modern Applied Science; Vol. 10, No. 5; 2016 ISSN 1913-1844E-ISSN 1913-1852 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 151 Analysis of the Reasons for Infidelity in Women with Extra-marital Relationships: A Qualitative Study Shima Messripour 1 , Ozra Etemadi 2 , Seyed Ahmad Ahmadi 3 & Rezvanosadat Jazayeri 4 1 PhD Candidate, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran 2 Associate Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran 3 Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran Correspondence: Ozra Etemadi, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. E-mail: mesripoor.con110@yahoo.com/O.etemadi@edu.ui.ac.ir/sayyd_ahmadi@yahoo.com/rs.jazayeri@yahoo.com Received: January 29, 2016 Accepted: February 11, 2016 Online Published: April 2, 2016 doi:10.5539/mas.v10n5p151 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/mas.v10n5p151 Abstract Due to the higher statistics of male infidelity, the focus of previous studies has been on investigating the reasons for infidelity in this gender group. On the other hand; since marital infidelity is a phenomenon that affects every country’s culture, people, and even families, the results of research studies conducted overseas cannot be fully implicated to Iranian families. To this end, this study aimed at analyzing the reasons behind infidelity in women with extra-marital relationships in the form of a qualitative study. This study was conducted through a qualitative research approach and by using the content analysis method. Participants included 11 women referred to the counseling centers in the city of Isfahan. Purposive sampling was used and continued until data saturation. Semi-structured interviews were employed as the primary method of data collection. The data were analyzed via qualitative content analysis and constant comparative analysis methods. After the examination and division of the basic concepts, 800 initial codes were extracted from interviews. The categories were created based on the codes following several reviews and summarizations on the basis of similarities. By the nature, these conceptual and abstract themes were named in three categories of intrapersonal factors, marital conflicts, and sexual reasons. The factors affecting female infidelity in this study had three dimensions. These factors included intrapersonal factors, marital conflicts, and sexual reasons. These findings can help psychologists, family counselors, and planners in the field of the social sciences identify the efficient scopes and purposes. Keywords: infidelity, women, extra-marital relationships, intrapersonal factors, marital conflict, sexual reasons 1. Introduction Marital infidelity is one of the factors threatening family structure and consequently the most fundamental sense, i.e. the sense of belonging. It also raises the fear of rejection among individuals. Moreover, marital infidelity is considered as one of the threating factors affecting performance, stability, and the endurance of marital relationships as well as one of the main reasons for divorce and the collapse of marriage (Mark, Janssen & Milhausen, 2011; Shackelford, Besser & Goetz, 2008). The reasons would be some behavioral elements such as improper emotional and sexual needs, opportunism, irresponsibility, and deliberate deception whose acceptance by those somehow involved in this issue is not so straightforward (Guerrero et al., 1998). Studies conducted on the reasons behind divorce suggest that extra-marital sexual affair has been the most important factor affecting the end of marriage (Tuttle & Davis, 2015). In other cases of divorce, research studies also show that one of the driving factors is marital infidelity (Borst, 2015). South & Lloyd (1995) in a study reported that in one-thirds of all divorces in the United States; at least one spouse has been involved in extra-marital sexual behavior. As well, 34 percent of men and 19 percent of women in the adult groups in the