Downturn Dating: Hearts Flutter as Markets Stutter

CHICAGO -- Credit the recession for "staycations" and bringing us more game-night parties at home. But also give it a shout for spurring more first dates.

Economic woes, it seems, unleash something practically primal in many of us who find ourselves without a partner: a hard-wired desire for companionship.

Some singles are now hunting for dates with the same fervor others are showing hunting for jobs. On matchmaking Web site eHarmony.com, membership is up 20 percent despite monthly fees of up to $60, and activity has soared 50 percent since September at OkCupid.com.

It's not just the frequency of our dates that's changing -- it's also the people we're choosing to spend time with.

"They're looking for something that's genuine in a world that isn't very secure," said Bathsheba Birman, co-founder of the Chicago dating event Nerds at Heart. "With headlines full of why you can't trust established institutions that you thought you could ... people are re-examining their own values."

Attendance at the monthly gatherings, where mostly young professionals pay $25 for a drink and a chance to spend the evening clustered around trivia and board games -- was more than double expectations in April and has stayed high since.

"Misery loves company, especially if the prospect of romance and or sex looms large," said Craig Kinsley, a neurologist at the University of Richmond. "Really, dating, rather than being considered as expensive, can be a thrilling and inexpensive distraction. Like getting drunk without the wallet-hit or hangover."

Kinsley said stomach-fluttering first dates also release brain chemicals that can temporarily erase worries, even about 401(k)s and layoffs and falling portfolios and upside-down mortgages.

Still, Sam Yagan, the founder and CEO at OkCupid.com, sees the changing dating climate as a matter of dollars and cents.

The way he figures it, a man can spend $100 buying drinks at a bar trying to pick up a stranger and leave with little more than a cold shoulder. But, when he's in a relationship, a Saturday evening can be as simple as Thai noodle takeout, Netflix and some fun under the covers. All in all, Yagan said, that's "more bang for your buck."

It's more than just the recession. Experts say changes in behavior can relate to other world events -- with upticks when news is bad.