Predictor relevance and extramarital affairs

Abstract We revisit Fair's ( 1978 ) ‘theory of extramarital affairs’ using robust nonparametric methods developed for the analysis of categorical data. We find evidence suggesting that the number of years married is not a relevant predictor of the propensity to engage in extramarital affairs having controlled for other factors. This finding runs counter to the prevailing wisdom gleaned from misspecified parametric models. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.