Recovering from infidelity: Attachment, trust, shattered assumptions, and forgiveness from a betrayed partner's perspective

Although previous research has examined infidelity or Extramarital Involvement (EMI), there is a lack of empirical research examining the process of recovery from EMI, despite a body of clinical literature (for example, Spring, 1996; Vaughan, 2002) suggesting steps for EMI clinical treatment (Allen, Atkins, Baucom, Snyder, & Glass, 2005). The current study is one of the few (perhaps the only) empirical studies to examine betrayed partners (N = 82) who were seeking to recover from their partner's infidelity. Betrayed partners engaged in the Beyond Affairs Network (BAN) recovery groups completed measures indicating their degree of attachment security, levels of interpersonal trust, shattered assumptions, marital satisfaction, and stage of forgiveness following the disclosure of their partner's EMI. Betrayed partners who were at a more developed stage of forgiveness in recovery following the disclosure of their partner's EMI experienced significantly greater attachment security, interpersonal trust, and marital satisfaction in relationships as well as fewer shattered assumptions about themselves and their partners than counterparts in the initial stage of forgiveness.