Chivalry reigns on first dates

PAYING the bill on a first date might be derided as old-fashioned or even sexist.

However, 85 per cent of young men still picked up the tab on initial romantic rendezvous, a study found. And what’s more, most of their dates expected them to do so. Researchers at the University of North Carolina quizzed 552 male and female college students in their teens and 20s.

The results, in the journal Psychological Reports, found a ‘strictly gendered pattern’ with ‘very little shift from the convention’.

‘On a typical traditional date, the man is expected to ask the woman out, make the plans, pay for the expenses,’ the researchers said. Women were expected to ‘focus on appearance and make conversation’.