More than half the women interviewed for the survey said they had negative feelings about one night stands.

Professor Anne Campbell from Durham University said the negative feelings reported by women after one-night stands suggest they are not well adapted to fleeting sexual encounters.

Men are more likely to reproduce and therefore to benefit from numerous short-term partners.

For women, however, quality seems to be more important than quantity.

Also for women, finding partners of high genetic quality is a stronger motivator than sheer number, and it is commonly believed that women are more willing to have casual sex when there is a chance of forming a long-term relationship.

As Professor Campbell explained: "In evolutionary terms women bear the brunt of parental care and it has been generally thought that it was to their advantage to choose their mate carefully and remain faithful to make sure that their mate had no reason to believe he was raising another man's child.

"But recently biologists have suggested that females could benefit from mating with many men — it would increase the genetic diversity of their children and, if a high quality man would not stay with them forever, they might at least get his excellent genes for their child."

for the survey a total of 1743 men and women who had experienced a one-night stand were asked to rate both their positive and negative feelings the following morning, in an internet survey.

Overall women's feelings were more negative than men's. Eighty per cent of men had overall positive feelings about the experience compared to 54 per cent of women.

Men were more likely than women to secretly want their friends to hear about it and to feel successful because the partner was desirable to others.

Men also reported greater sexual satisfaction and contentment following the event, as well as a greater sense of well-being and confidence about themselves.

The predominant negative feeling reported by women was regret at having been "used". Women were also more likely to feel that they had let themselves down and were worried about the potential damage to their reputation if other people found out.

Women found the experience less sexually satisfying and, contrary to popular belief, they did not seem to view taking part in casual sex as a prelude to long-term relationships.

* Professor Anne Campbell's findings are published online in the June issue of Springer's journal, Human Nature.