Expectancies, Setting, Age, and Beverage Choice as Predictors of Sexual Behaviors in Hypothetical Dating Situations

Abstract

Brief vignettes depicting heterosexual dates were used to examine how date location (bar/restaurant), age (21/35), female character's beverage choice (alcohol/soda), and respondents' gender interacted to determine participants' estimations of the likelihood of sexual behaviors between daters. Participants were randomly assigned to read vignettes that combined these factors in a factorial design. Younger, alcohol-drinking females in a bar date were perceived as more likely to engage in sex than were nondrinking females at a restaurant. For older daters, neither factor was relevant. The drinking female was perceived as more likely to initiate sex than was the nondrinker. Alcohol use by the male target was not related to perceived initiation likelihood. Participants with stronger alcohol expectancies gave higher estimates of likelihood of sex.