Powerful women 'will have affairs just like men'

Women in positions of power are just as likely as their male counterparts to be unfaithful because confidence is a bigger factor in adultery than gender, a scientific study has found.

Both men and women in powerful positions were more likely to stray than their junior colleagues because they had high self–esteem, according to the research.

Researchers at Tilburg University in Holland, led by Dr Joris Lammers, a psychologist, found that, contrary to popular perceptions, women with powerful jobs were just as likely to stray sexually as men.

"There's been a lot of research indicating gender is the key factor but none of these studies have been done on powerful women," Dr Lammers said.

"As more and more women are in greater positions of power and are considered equal to men, then familiar assumptions about their behaviour may also change. This may lead to increased negative behaviours among women that in the past have been more common among men," he said.

His team studied 1,561 professionals. Of these, 58 per cent had nonmanagement positions, 22 per cent were supervisors, 14 per cent were in middle management and six per cent were in senior management.

All were asked about past affairs and their desire to cheat. Their levels of power and self–confidence were measured, and they were asked how often they travelled for business.

Whether a person was male or female made no difference to their behaviour, Dr Lammers said.

Rather, the biggest factors influencing whether or not they were unfaithful were their levels of power and self–esteem.

"People often assume powerful men may be more likely to cheat.

"We found that among powerful people, gender made no difference in past digressions or their desires to cheat," Dr Lammers said.

男人有錢就變壞，女人也不例外。來自荷蘭Tilburg 大學的研究發現：在權利崗位的女強人們跟此崗位的男性一樣，出軌比例比較高。

心理學家Joris Lammers 博士說：隨著越來越的女性在職場更加得心應手，她們也會感染上一些權利男士那樣的惡習。@oioi：所以總歸有這樣的惡習。

在調查了1561位女性白領之后（其中58%非管理職位，22%主管、14%中級主觀、6%高級主觀），Joris 發現了這個問題，他說“強大的人，不論男女，都有出軌的欲望。”