Does "No" really mean "No" after you say "Yes"? Attributions about date and marital rape

The current study examined how participant (i.e., gender) and situational ( i.e., couple-specific sexual intercourse history)factors influence attribut ions about stranger, early dating, late dating, and marital rape. Two hundr ed undergraduates were randomly assigned to read one of four levels of vict im-perpetrator relationship vignettes. In addition, within the two dating r elationship conditions, the couple's sexual intercourse history was manipul ated. As the degree of acquaintance between the perpetrator and victim incr eased, the participants incorporated more rape-supportive and sex role ster eotypical attributions. participants also made more negative attributions a bout the date rapes when the couple was thought to have previously engaged in consensual sexual intercourse. There were no differences in attributions across the date and marital rape conditions when the participants were inf ormed that the dating couples had previously engaged in sexual intercourse, and several gender differences Here obtained in these comparisons. The soc ial and legal implications of these findings are discussed.