THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SPECTRUM OF INFIDELITY IN AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN

Abstract

For many years infidelity has been a cancerous problem in African Ameri-can relationships. However, the specific psychological etiology of infidelity regarding African American men needs more attention and scholarly investi-gation. The content of my research concentrates on the specific causes and the particular issues of infidelity and commitment in relation to African American men. The psychological theoretical frameworks used focuses on concepts of self-actualization, self-determination theory (SDT), and operant and classical conditioning in the investigation of the subject matter. These particular issues of infidelity are supported by the growing divorce rate in Af-rican American communities ( 43% of the national divorce rate), low mar-riage rates, and high statistics of non-martial child bearing.

This study focuses on an examination of the African American male psy-che to interrogate why relational commitment is an obstacle and how it af-fects intraracial relationships between African American, as well as other non-romantic relationships. The methodologies used include: literature re-view, interviews, and data analysis. It is hoped that these three techniques provide significant evidence to support the validity of my hypothesis. The hypothesis of this study is that infidelity is one of the leading causes in rela-tional issues such as trust and intimacy. For African American men, it is pro-posed that infidelity is incorporated into the developmental teachings and performances of Black masculinity. Within these training rituals, young men are encouraged to participate in relational infidelity with the intent of obtain-ing a certain level of status and power as proposed by the terms of ideal hegemonic masculinity. The implications of this hypothesis are that if the is-sue of infidelity continues to be encouraged within the terms of African American masculinity, then they may face a new type of internal marginali-zation, in which stereotypes such as deception and promiscuity will become the modern principals of Black masculinity instead of responsibility and lead-ership. Several contributing factors structure my hypothesis such as gender conflicts, societal/cultural expectations, and the formation and performances of. And all of these factors profoundly affect the various definitions, conceptions, and acts of infidelity.