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Description
In social cognition research, cognitive scripts are characterized as schematic knowledge structures about "appropriate sequences of events in a particular context" (Schank & Abelson, 1977, p. 41). Scripts facilitate the understanding of social situations; direct the selection, processing, and retrieval of social information; and serve as guidelines for behavior. They also contain normative expectations about the behavior of others and the outcome of the situation. The concept of cognitive scripts has been applied to a wide range of social situations and behaviors, including sexual interactions. Sexual scripts are conceptualized as cognitive representations of prototypical sequences of events in sexual interactions (Metts & Spitzberg, 1996; Simon & Gagnon, 1986). They contain an individual's generalized knowledge, abstracted from direct or vicarious experience with specific sexual encounters, about the typical elements and events of a sexual interaction, including expectations about the behaviors of the partner and normative beliefs about the appropriateness of specific sexual behaviors. Sexual scripts are embedded in cultural norms about sexuality and reflect consensually shared gender stereotypes and gender-typed behavioral expectations. For example, Rosenthal and Smith (1997) showed that adolescents' sexual scripts contain views about what sexual behaviors are appropriate at a particular age. They identified a high consensus between boys and girls about "sexual timetables," that is, their perceptions about the age from which certain sexual behaviors, such as kissing, sexual touch, and sexual intercourse, are acceptable and appropriate.
The present study explored adolescents' sexual scripts for the first sexual intercourse with a new partner in a heterosexual interaction: What do they perceive as characteristic features of a first sexual intercourse with a new partner in terms of the precursors of the interaction, the context of the sexual encounter itself, its evaluation, and the perspectives for the future relationship with the partner? The study differentiated between general scripts, reflecting adolescents' perceptions of the characteristic sequence of events in a heterosexual encounter as pertaining to their age group as a whole, and individual scripts, reflecting their schematic representations of sexual encounters as pertaining to themselves individually. Furthermore, rape scripts, that is, cognitive representations of nonconsensual sexual interactions between a man and a woman, were included in the analysis.
Proposing that sexual behavior is shaped to a significant extent by cognitive scripts requires evidence that there is, indeed, a consensus within a particular cultural community as to the typical behavior of participants in a sexual encounter as well as shared normative beliefs about how these encounters should be conducted. Several studies are available that provide evidence of socially shared sexual scripts (Lenton & Bryan, 2005; Littleton & Axsom, 2003; Wiederman, 2005). These studies have examined perceptions of the characteristic features and sequences of events in sexual interactions of people in general. Such general sexual scripts reflect individuals' social knowledge about sexual interactions, but they do not necessarily reflect their representations of their own sexual behavior. Knowing a socially shared script does not automatically mean endorsing and enacting it as part of one's own behavioral repertoire. The need to distinguish between knowledge of schematic representations and personal endorsement of these representations has been highlighted by research on stereotyping. In a study on racial stereotypes, Devine and Elliot (1995) showed that it is necessary to differentiate between stereotype knowledge, that is, the ability to reproduce socially shared perceptions of the typical attributes of Blacks, and personal beliefs, that is, the endorsement of these perceptions as part of the individual's belief system. Only personal beliefs, not stereotype knowledge, were related to negative attitudes toward Blacks. Similarly, Demorest (1995) introduced the concept of "personal scripts" to characterize a person's unique cognitive representations of motives, emotions, and actions of the self and others. Personal scripts consist of construals of personal importance for the individual and are distinguished from social or general scripts that refer to stereotypic events.
Applying this line of reasoning to the study of sexual scripts, the present study analyzed the extent to which adolescents' perceptions of how their peers in general conduct their sexual relationships (general script) differed from or overlapped with their conceptions about their own sexual interactions (individual script). Both types of scripts reflect abstract representations based on generalizations. General scripts generalize not only across situations but also across persons, whereas individual scripts generalize across situations but not to other people.
In addition to scripts about consensual sexual encounters, there are socially shared representations about the typical features and events of nonconsensual sexual interactions. These rape scripts essentially are based on the "real rape stereotype" that describes the typical sexual assault as an attack by a stranger who uses physical force against a victim who shows active physical resistance (Burt & Albin, 1981; Davis & Lee, 1996). As many authors have noted, the real rape stereotype ignores the fact that the majority of sexual assaults occur between partners who previously knew each other, often in the context of a dating and acquaintance relationship. As a result, incidents that deviate from the conditions laid out by the rape script are less likely to be regarded as sexual assault, and women who suffer such assaults find it harder to be acknowledged as victims (Kahn, Mathie, & Torgler, 1994; Littleton & Axsom, 2003; see Temkin & Krahe, in press, for a review). In fact, they also are less likely to see themselves as victims of rape and engage in more self-blame than victims whose experience conforms more closely to the real rape stereotype (Bondurant, 2001). In the present study, adolescents' rape scripts were measured in order to explore the extent to which they reflect the real rape stereotype and how they differ from the scripts of consensual sexual interactions.
In exploring the characteristic features of adolescents' sexual scripts, a special concern was to clarify the role of risk elements with respect to sexual aggression and victimization. We defined as risk elements of sexual scripts those features of sexual encounters that empirically have been shown to be associated with an increased likelihood of sexual aggression/victimization (see Krahe, 2001, for a summary). To the extent that those features are integral parts of an individual's sexual script, the person may be at risk of showing sexual aggression or of being sexually victimized (Krahe, 2000). Three situational risk elements were included in the present study.
First, the consumption of alcohol and other drugs in the context of sexual interactions is a risk factor of sexual aggression and victimization. Alcohol consumption in a dating situation increases men's risk of engaging in sexually aggressive behavior (e.g., Abbey, McAuslan, & Ross, 1998; Abbey, Clinton-Sherrod, McAuslan, Zawacki, & Buck, 2003). Similarly, alcohol consumption by the woman has been identified as a risk factor for sexual victimization (e.g., Abbey, Ross, McDuffie, & McAuslan, 1996; Testa & Dermen, 1999). Intoxication prevents women from recognizing the warning signs of a sexual assault and undermines their ability to offer effective resistance (Norris, Nurius, & Graham, 1999). There is less systematic research on the role of other drugs in increasing the risk of sexual aggression, but awareness is growing among the public as well as policymakers about the problem of drug-assisted rape through so-called party drugs (see Abramowitz, 2004; Gonzalez & Nutt, 2005). As Morr and Mongeau (2004) showed, alcohol is linked to sexual intimacy in generalized representations of dating encounters. Their participants thought that sexual intimacy would be more likely if alcohol was available on a date.
A second situational risk factor linked to sexual aggression and victimization refers to the ambiguous communication of sexual intentions. It can take the form of "token resistance" (saying "no" when you mean "yes"; Muehlenhard & Hollabaugh, 1988) or "compliance" (saying "yes" when you mean "no"; O'Sullivan & Allgeier, 1998). The negotiation of sexual intimacy relies largely on implicit cues as opposed to explicit statements of sexual intent because neither partner wants to run the risk of rejection by prematurely laying open his/her sexual intentions. The traditional sexual script assigns men the role of initiators and women the role of gatekeepers of sexual intimacy. The initial rejection of a man's sexual advances by the woman is part and parcel of this role division, even in cases when the woman actually is willing to engage in sexual interactions with the man (Muehlenhard & McCoy, 1991; O'Sullivan & Allgeier, 1994; Shotland & Hunter, 1995). Enacting the traditional sexual script gives rise to ambiguity. It may lead women to send out inconsistent cues about their sexual intentions, and it may encourage men to think that a woman's rejection of their sexual advances indicates token resistance rather than genuine rejection. There is evidence that both token resistance and compliance are associated with sexual victimization (e.g., Krahe, 1998; Shotland & Hunter, 1995; Sprecher, Hatfield, Cortese, Potapova, & Levitskaya, 1994). Furthermore, men's belief that women engage in token resistance and compliance was found to predict their engagement in sexual aggression (Krahe, Scheinberger-Olwig, & Kolpin, 2000). Thus, if the use of ambiguous communication strategies is part of adolescents' sexual scripts, this could enhance their vulnerability to sexual aggression and victimization.
Finally, a large database has shown that a high... |
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