Recession gloom 'driving men to extra-marital affairs'

London: Gloom about the recession is driving men to have extra-marital affairs, a new study has found. Researchers have found that men seek more sexual partners when times are tough — as today’s economic outlook increases their chance of being unfaithful as they resort to age-old strategies to pass on their genes. [caption id=“attachment_108625” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Men will seek to mate with more women when faced with  a “threatening environment. Reuters”]  [/caption] Psychologist Omri Gillath, who carried out the study, has said men will seek to mate with more women when faced with such a “threatening environment”. He said, “when the environment is secure and you have enough food and things are working out, people are more likely to invest in their existing kids and stay with their current partner. “But if the environment is dangerous and your chances of survival are lower then people adopt short-term strategies which allow them to reproduce more.” The researchers at the University of Kansas found that men who are made to think about their own death are more sexually driven, the Daily Express reported. Gillath said, “we’re biologically wired to reproduce. If you think you might die soon, there’s a huge advantage to use short-term mating strategies to make sure there are plenty of offspring. “The economy today is giving us signs that we have lower chances of survival. There’s not so much money, we’re not sure if we’re going to have our jobs, we’re not sure we can support our existing kids… It’s like living on the savannah and finding you don’t have enough fruit and the animals are scarce. In such times, guys might be more inclined to spread their genes.” The findings are to be published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. PTI