Finding true love is probably one of the major highlights of a person’s life, especially in college days. Unfortunately, the possibility has been frustrated by the ever-evolving plague of cheating among college students. Aside from being an institution for learning, colleges have become the foremost institution where young people learn all the dynamics of cheating. Let’s know about How Common is Cheating in College Relationships?
Cheating is quite common in college relationships. Many relationships end because one of the partners involved cheated on the other. One study reported 65% – 75% infidelity among college students. This article explores the prevalence of cheating in college relationships.
Do All College Students Cheat on Their Partners?
Despite the prevalence of cheating in colleges, not all relationships go down that way. It’s safe to say that a small percentage blossom into a long-lasting relationships even marriage. Unsurprisingly, the magic is none other than fidelity. If partners in college can commit to one partner ignoring the trend of infidelity around them, their relationship will endure.
Also, let’s not rule out the possibility that there are people whose moral backgrounds are against infidelity. This may be due to personal experiences with the woes of cheating. For instance, where a marriage ends due to infidelity, the children involved may consciously decide never to cheat in their relationships. College students in this category will choose fidelity to make their relationship work.
Why Do College Students Cheat?
Before we go further, it is important to note that cheating is not only common to young adults or college students. Adults cheat too. Whether a person cheats or refuses to depends largely on the moral code he or she lives by. That said, cheating is common to all classes of people in relationships whether young or old, graduate or undergraduate.
However, college students tend to be unfaithful in relationships for the following reasons:
Lack of Supervision
On getting to college, the supervision of parents on their children becomes minimal. The limitations imposed on young adults before they went off to college are removed. This freedom is what empowers college students to do whatever they want.
Zero Accountability
In the same vein, this freedom comes with the knowledge that there’s no one to hold them accountable for their actions. No one to reprimand them for their unfaithfulness. Though misguided, they also believe that their decisions will not come back to harm them in any way. In short, college students see their earned freedom as a ticket to do whatever they want with whoever during their college days.
Youthful Exuberance
Since college students are not accountable to anyone except their moral conscience, they have a vague sense of responsibility and commitment. Being a young adult comes with the desire to explore. To try out things, to be free. As such, it is hard for college students to remain committed to someone. Commitment contradicts the wild nature of youth. It limits the desire to be free.
Freedom from Responsibility
Responsibility goes alongside commitment. It takes a good understanding of responsibility to be committed. Unfortunately, young adults carry a sense that they owe no responsibility to anyone at this stage of their life. Responsibility is boring. It’s not cool. Responsibility binds when what they truly seek is to remain unattached and the freedom to move on to the next exciting person they can find.
Are There Consequences for Infidelity in College Relationships?
In other words, do college students get away with cheating like most of them seem to think? Well, not exactly. Cheating on a partner in college leaves a mark on the cheater. However, in most cases, the subtle effect of cheating in college days only manifests after some years have gone by. The effect, in this context, is usually not obvious yet they play a significant role in the way the cheater sees the relationship.
One important effect of cheating in college is that it gives the cheating partner a distorted view of commitment in relationships. Perhaps, cheating in college relationships is one responsible for the rate of divorce we have these days. Partners seem to think they can up and leave when the excitement fades. They feel no sense of obligation to remain with someone long-term.
In the life of a young adult, college days are the formative years of adulthood. This is where they begin to build the foundation for their future. Unfortunately, many college students build the foundation of their marital life by cheating and fleeting from one relationship to another. After college, they find it hard to stay in a relationship that requires them to take responsibility and be committed.
People who are given to cheating are usually not satisfied with themselves. They look for satisfaction in others. This might be due to deep-seated emotional issues like depression. Where these emotional issues go unaddressed, such a person finds it hard to stay long in a relationship. They leave when the relationship no longer excites them.
Lastly, cheating in college relationships also has a bearing on academics. Students who jump from one person to another tend to perform below average in their academics. Though this effect is not general, it seems quite logical. A relationship itself reduces a student’s academic focus without the complications of cheating.
How Can I Go Through College Without Cheating?
The best way to go through college without cheating is to avoid dating at all. The desire to go through college without cheating is noble but easier said than done, especially with the raging hormones that come with being a youth. Most young adults go off to college with romantic desires and expectations fueled by Hollywood. However, these desires are unrealistic and leave the person wanting more.
As such, their search for long-lasting excitement starts but never ends. That said, going into a relationship requires maturity. Maturity, in this context, refers to the ability to remain committed to the person you’re in a relationship with. Unfortunately, many young adults are focused on satisfying their desires rather than staying committed even when the relationship seems dry.
Conclusion
There are few things in this world sweeter than young love. College relationship is not bad in themselves but has been corrupted by uncontrolled lust. Unfaithfulness in college relationships has become quite normal and less scandalous. However, those who understand commitment and responsibility can maintain a long-term relationship.
