actively involved in open marriages during the previous year. Those estimates are slightly higher than those from other researchers. Hunt, based on interviews from a 1974 national study of sexual behavior, estimated that 2% to 4% of the married population was involved in open marriages. Bartell (1971) estimated that two percent of the married population was involved in open marriages. The lowest estimate comes from a study conducted by Spanier and Cole (1975) of several hundred people living in the midwestern United States, which found 1.7 percent of married people involved in open marriages. Following the 1972 publication of Open Marriage, the popular media expressed a belief that open marriages were on the rise. However, Hunt concluded the incidence of extramarital sex had remained about the same for many years: Hunt attributed the mistaken impression of increasing open marriages to a barrage of books, articles, and television shows dealing with the topic. He also notes that speculative comments about increases in open marriage would sometimes be repeated often enough that people cited them as evidence. Nearly twenty years later (1993), in a national study of sexual behavior, Janus and Janus likewise denied that open marriages were on the rise, and suggested the number of open marriages may have declined: A large amount of media interest can mislead people into thinking the incidence of open marriage is on the rise. Conversely, media attention given to the marriage movement can mislead people into thinking the incidence of open marriage is declining. Weiss (1997) notes that "there is no scientific basis for concluding that these patterns increased in popularity earlier or that they have become less common in the 1980s and 1990s." See also Ménage à trois Open relationship References Further reading Block, J. (2009). Open: Love, Sex and Life in an Open Marriage. Seal Press. O'Neill, N. / O'Neill, George (1984). Open Marriage: A New Life Style for Couples. M. Evans & Company. Schott, O. (2014). In Praise of Open Relationships. On Love, Sex, Reason, and Happiness. Bertz + Fischer Publishing. External links A Handbook on Open Relationships Liberated in Love: Can Open Marriage Work? Sexual fidelity Types of marriage Free love Polyamory