Anxiety related to sexual performance and a lack of concern about the consequences such as pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases make both men and women more likely to cheat on their partners, a new study has found.

Women who worry about their ability to stay aroused and orgasm are 8 per cent more likely to stray for each sexual concern.

Men, on the other hand, are 6 per cent more likely to cheat for each worry, such as impotence and premature ejaculation, that they have.

"People who score high on sexual anxiety may feel less pressure when they're engaging with a person who doesn't know their sexual history," the Daily Mail quoted lead researcher Kristen Mark, of the University of Indiana, as saying.

The researchers surveyed 506 monogamous men and 416 monogamous women with an average age of 31, half of whom were married.

They were each questioned about their sexual behaviour, the quality of their relationship and whether they had cheated on their current partner.

Mark and her team found that 23 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women had partaken in a sexual act with another person that could jeopardise their relationship should their partner find out.

Men who admitted to becoming easily sexually excited were at least 4 per cent more likely to cheat, the researchers found. Sexual excitement has no bearing on women's likelihood to stray.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, being unhappy in a relationship was found to increase the chances of a woman straying by between 2.6 and 2.9 per cent.

The study was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.