A Study Found How Likely Couples Are To Survive Infidelity & It's Not Promising

As much as we don't like to admit it, people do cheat. But what happens next? Can a relationship survive cheating? In a survey of 441 people between the ages of 18 and 70, the people over at Health Testing Centers sought to learn everything and anything there was to know about cheating. According to their research just under half of us (46.1 percent) are cheaters. Of those cheaters, only one in four actually admitted their transgression to their partner.

And it doesn't matter who you date! Both men and women were equally likely to admit to cheating. Of the people who admitted to cheating, nearly half of men and half of women said they fessed up within the first week. What did make a difference was whether the cheater was married or in a relationship. Over half of those in a relationship (52.4 percent) said that they told their partner they were unfaithful within a week. Less than a third (29.2 percent) of married respondents said the same.

So, how long do married people take to cop to cheating? It takes a while. Almost half of the married respondents who admitted to cheating (47.9 percent) said that they waited six months or more to tell their partner they cheated. Only 20.4 percent of people in relationship said the same.

Telling your partner you cheated is never going to be fun. So why do people bother? It depends on your gender. The study found that dudes were more likely to admit they cheated because they felt guilty, while ladies were more likely to admit they cheated because they wanted out of the relationship. Whether you're married or in a relationship also makes a difference. Only a quarter of married cheaters said they decided to cough up to it because of guilt, while more than twice that amount (53 percent) of people in relationships said the same.

So, what happens after you admit you cheated? Well, according to the study, the odds for a lasting relationship post-cheating aren't super great. More than half of the relationships (54.5 percent) ended immediately after one partner admitted to cheating. Then almost a third (30 percent) of them tried to stay together after the cheating happened, but they wound up breaking up anyway.

Again, gender played a pretty big role here. About 20 percent of female cheaters were still in their relationships while only 10 percent of male cheaters were able to say the same. After hearing those stats it's pretty unsurprising that they also found that 22 percent of male cheaters said their partners immediately ended the relationship once they heard about the infidelity, while only 11 percent of female cheaters said the same.

That said, it's not impossible to survive infidelity together. Couples can and do move past it — but it can take work and dedication to do so.

Some other factors that lead to whether or not a relationship would last post-cheating? Well, for starters, married couples were a lot more likely to stay together than unmarried couples. Also, as you can imagine, long-term affairs were more likely to result in a split than a brief transgression.

This all being said, it's important to note that every relationship is different. Just because the majority of people handle cheating in a certain way, doesn't mean you're also bound to do the same.