Men are more willing to forgive a cheating partner than women, a new study has claimed.

Ashley Madison, the dating website notoriously established to help married people have affairs, conducted a survey of over 3,000 members and found that women were less likely to turn a blind eye to cheating.

Of those questioned, 85% of women said they'd been forgiven for cheating in the past, but just 80% of men had received the same grace.

Those surveyed were also asked whether or not they would be willing to forgive a partner for cheating, and the results also revealed that men were slightly more unforgiving of their unfaithful spouses.

A couple in bed together. [[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels / Andrea Piacquadio]]

Eighty-six percent of men said that they would be willing to forgive a cheating partner. Meanwhile, just 82% of women said that they'd be able to do the same.

Psychotherapist Lucy Beresford said that the survey was a reflection of the fact that the sexes perceive cheating differently.

She said: "When faced with the idea of cheating, men concentrate on what happened physically.

"Woman on the other hand are more interested in the emotional impact.

"The fact men appear to be more forgiving could also be because men and women tend to process their responses to infidelity differently.

"Men are much more interested in knowing about the physical aspects of an affair and find it hard to forgive when sex is actually involved.

"Whereas women are much more affected when they believe there has been an emotional connect to the affair.

"They are much less likely to forgive emotional infidelity in an affair relationship, and men are much less likely to forgive physical infidelity."

A couple in bed. [[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels / Ketut Subiyanto]]

The study also revealed that while the pandemic might have, on the surface, prevented people from having affairs, in reality, they are still taking place.

According to the website, those who cheat on their partners tend to do it twice a month, however, a fifth of those who admitted to an affair said that they don't actually have sex with their "secret partner".

It also revealed bad news for anyone in Ireland with an unfaithful partner, as they are the most prolific cheaters, with 20% of unfaithful partners admitting to seeing their secret beau every single day.

The second most prolific cheaters were based in Germany, where 13% admitted to seeing their secret partner every day.

However, 8% of those in Colombia, 6% of those in France, and 5% of British cheaters admitted to daily infidelity.

Featured image credit: Pexels / Vera Arsic

Men are more forgiving than women when it comes to cheating, new study claims