Velez-Blasini, C. J. & Brandt, H. J. (in press). Alcohol expectancies, date setting, age, and beverage choice as predictors of estimated likelihood of sexual behaviors in hypothetical dating situations. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

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