Couples' Interpretations of Unwanted Sexual Advances at Three Stages of a Dating Relationship

Sexual aggression in dating is now a widespread social phenomenon. The present study was designed to examine interpretations and expectations in a sexual disagreement situation within young dating couples. Forty-five heterosexual couples classified into one of three distinct stages of involvement (first date, several dates, or steady dating) were asked to complete several questionnaires requesting background and sexual information, and respond to six brief scenarios describing dating situations. It was hypothesized that the respondent's sex, couple's dating stage, woman's type of ''No" response, and the level of intimacy were related to the following: a woman's preferred response to her partner's unwanted sexual advances, the interpretations and consequences of a woman's non-consent, a man's compliance with her refusal, the perceived severity of the situation, and any future consequences of the sexual disagreement. Further, those couples who were going steady were expected to have the most similar interpretations and behaviors in such a situation. Results from MANOVAs and ANOVAs partially supported the hypotheses. overall, the intimacy level and a couple's dating stage appeared to be the most influential factors. Women gave definite refusals to advances at all intimacy levels; however, those women going steady tended to qualify their refusals. Men in early dating stages thought women were flirting when she resisted his advances. Men in later dating stages complied with a woman's non-consent to highly intimate advances, indicating the use of coercive strategies is more the exception than the rule. Women perceived unwanted sexual advances as offensive, but men were more willing to report their highly intimate activities to the authorities. Lastly, women reported they would date their partners again, whereas men would not date their partners after they resisted advances. These findings generally indicate the dating situation is filled with ambiguity. Possible explanations for misunderstandings and suggestions to decrease the confusion and inaccurate beliefs between dating partners are provided.