SEX-DIFFERENCES IN RELATIONAL MESSAGE INTERPRETATIONS ON MALE-INITIATED AND FEMALE-INITIATED 1ST-DATES - A RESEARCH NOTE

First dates are scripted events where men tend to take proactive, and women reactive, sexual roles. Given that sex differences in sexually p ermissive attitudes are particularly large in the early stages of rela tional development, this study investigated sex differences in relatio nal message interpretations on cross-sex first dates. It was predicted that males would evaluate females' behavior on a first date as reflec ting greater intimacy than females would evaluate in male's behavior. This sex differences, moreover, was expected to be most pronounced on female-initiated first dates. The results indicated that on female-ini tiated dates, males evaluated females' behavior as reflecting less int imacy than females reported in male's behavior. No sex differences in relational message interpretations were observed on male-initiated fir st dates. Explanations for these results centered upon violations of e xpectations including the possibility that there are different types o f dates.