Most men want to go Dutch

Two out of three men think women should help pay for a date - but most feel guilty about accepting their money, a US study suggests.

Of the 64% wanting to split the bill, 44% said they would even ditch a love interest who never doled out.

That said, 76% of men felt bad about pocketing payments from possible partners.

The findings, released on Saturday, are based on research led by psychologist David Frederick, of Chapman University, California.

He oversaw a team that combed through data from more than 17000 people to see how changing gender norms have affected time-honoured notions of courtship.

Eighty-four percent of men, and 58% of women, reported that men pay dating expenses even after they have been going steady for a while.

Fifty-seven percent of women claimed that they had offered to pay for a date - but 39% confessed that they hoped the man would reject their offer.

Most of the survey respondents, both male and female, said they shared dating expenses in the first six months of seeing someone exclusively.

The study was presented to the American Sociological Association.