Abstract:
Disclosure of Extradyadic involvement (EDI) by married men in Kenya is mostly accidental resulting in problems for the couple and family. The study examined disclosure of EDI by married men aged 25 to 60 years with two or more years in marriage, to gather information that would bolster disclosure of EDI. The study focused on; men’s understanding of EDI,impact of EDI, EDI disclosure and what the involved men would desire their spouses to know. Mixed methods were used; quantitative data collected using questionnaires was analyzed using SPSS, qualitative data from focus group discussions was analyzed into themes along the study objectives.The findings indicated that; 65% of the respondents had physical EDI;50%of the respondents’ spouses had no idea about theEDI; only 10% of the respondents disclosedtheir EDI to their spouses and 43.4% had their spouses discovering the EDI in other ways. This was determined to be out of fear ofhurting one’s spouse, possibility of separation and divorce, guilt and shame in the society.Further, once the EDI was discovered, men appeared to get defensive, stonewalled remaining anxious and using alcohol to cope.There was a significant association between anxiety and alcohol use disorder χ2 (1, N=152) = 26.09, p<0.001 as well as avoidance with alcohol use disorder,χ2 (1, N=152) = 18.84, p<0.001.The results may suggest a clinical impact of EDI.
