I see Perry and Wade in a different light. In Perry's case, he's content with his situation. So content that the player has to work to get him to move. None of his bitching is about his situation. Even then, he changes. He can hook up with Emma or get close with Cherry, and he can even get a job he enjoys at the café. As for Wade, once again he was super content with his situation. His complaining was about Cindy and her not being happy about it. Even then, he's capable of having an epiphany and deciding to break up with her. As for Louise, she's needy and toxic, but she goes after what she wants. As I said, I had sympathy for Alison at the start. She was dealt a shitty hand at the start of the game; however, but she seems to be the only character who seems to be actively making herself miserable. She claims she doesn't want a serious relationship, but it seems obvious she's jealous of her college friends settling down and having kids. She talks about how much she hates her job, but even with a bad economy, she could be putting out resumes or looking for jobs in other cities. She claims everyone else is incompetent and how the place would fall apart without her, but she doesn't do anything about it. Wade has things he enjoys; Perry has things he enjoys; Louise has things that make her happy. All Alison does is complain and play the victim. Everything is always someone else's fault. Do people do it IRL? Yes. Is Alison a bad character? No. She's just a character I lost sympathy towards after way too many playthroughs. In a sense, the theme of this game is chasing your dreams, and Alison is either the only character not doing so or doing it in the dumbest way possible. YMMV.
I've seen three studies since 2016 that have similar data. A few things I remember: 50% of relationships will experience infidelity. Someone who has cheated before is 2.5 times more likely to cheat in the future than someone who has never cheated. Among both genders, the likelihood of cheating decreases with age. It is a slight decrease among men, and a much sharper one among women. One argued it was situational, i.e. it's easier to cheat on a partner when you're just dating and going to clubs regularly than when you have a spouse, kids, a mortgage, and a ton of responsibilities. One argued it was generational. Older people were raised to be more sexually conservative, especially women.
Women in their twenties are three to four times more likely to cheat then men in their twenties. Women in their thirties are still significantly more likely to cheat. Once you get into their forties, though, men become slightly more likely to cheat. While I don't remember any reasons, I can venture some guesses. It's easier for women to find sexual partners. I remember one social experiment at a college where they had attractive men and women proposition people of the opposite sex. Women had a 75% success rate; men had 0%. If a young women wants to find a sexual partner, she can generally succeed. In turn, if a woman is inclined to cheat, it is easier for her to do so. A woman's sexual appeal is closely tied to her appearance so as she ages, it becomes harder. A man's sexual appeal is often tied to other things such as confidence, success, or wealth. These depreciate less as a man ages. There is also the 80-20 rule, which is 80% of women are pursuing the same 20% of men. Which ties into another aspect: men who cheat cheat more often. So you end up with more women cheating less and less men cheating more. At least that's what I remember. I mostly remember the first one because it went against everything I had been told, and I remember the other two because they were consistent with the first one. Things like the 80-20 rule were unrelated but seemed to fit with what I remember.
