The study carried out by a team of Czech scientists concluded that, while men and women both had affairs, men were more likely to stray if their fathers had been unfaithful as they were growing up.

Presenting his research, Jan Havlicek told a conference of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association, that daughters were not affected in the same way by their mothers’ infidelity

Mr Havlicek said as boys grew up by observing the world around them what was appropriate and what they could get away with.