1 99b) to explain one set of pathways through which alcohol and sexual assault are linked. It was hypothesized that the mutual effects of beliefs and experiences with regard to dating, sexuality, and alcohol increase the likelihood that a man would misperceive a female companion's sexual inten tions, and that this misperception would lead to sexual assault. Self-administered, anonymous surveys were conducted with a representative sample of 814 men at a large urban university. Twenty-six percent of these men reported perpetrating sexual assault. The results of structural equation modeling analyses provided support for the model. Suggestions are made for a more dyadic and dynamic mode of research on this problem, as well as for the development of sexual assault prevention and treatment programs for men.Sexual assault occurs at an unconscionably high rate among college students. About a decade ago Koss, Gidycz, and Wisniewski (1987) conducted a national study of 3,187 women and 2,972 men from 32 different colleges selected to represent the higher education enrollment in the United States. Fifty four percent of the women reported experienc ing some level of sexual assault since the age of 14; and 25% of the men reported perpetrating some level of sexual assault. Sexual assault in cludes a range of forced sexual activities including acts which meet the legal definition of rape (e.g., use of force, lack of consent), verbally coerced sexual intercourse, and forced sexual intercourse (kissing, Lisa Thomson Ross is now at the College of Charleston 167 168 ABBEY, McAUSLAN, AND ROSS touching, or stroking).Assault that met the standard legal definition of completed or attempted rape was experienced by 27"o of the women; 8% of the men reported committing such acts. Eighty-four percent of these sexual assaults occurred between people who knew each other (Koss, 1988). questioned college students specifically about sexual as sault that occur on dates. Seventy-eight percent of the women reported being the victims of sexual assault; 57"o of the men reported perpetrating such assaults. Kanin (1985) found that 2b".. of the college men in his sample had forced sexual intercourse on a date since entering college. Although the difference between the reporting rates for women and men is sizable, and the focus of some debate (Koss et al., 1987;Pineau, 1989), it does not alter the fact that sexual assault is a serious problem among college students.Sexual assault has frequently been linked to alcohol consumption. In the national sample described above, 74% of the men and 55" n of the women reported using alcohol prior to the incident (Koss, 1988). Mue hlenhard and Linton (1987) found that alcohol was consumed by 55% of the men and 53% of the women who reported sexual assault-on a date.Although past research consistently documents the frequent co-occur rence of alcohol consumption and sexual assault, a theoretical frame work explaining this relationship is lacking. As is true for any complex human behavior, there are likely to be multiple...

American societal norms frequently link alcohol, dating, and sexuality. This cross‐sectional study examined the role of alcohol and dating risk factors for sexual assault among a representative sample of female students at a large urban university. Over half of the 1,160 women had experienced some form of sexual assault. Ninety‐five percent of these assaults were committed by someone the woman knew and almost half of these assaults involved alcohol consumption by either the man, the woman, or both. Discriminant function analyses indicated that dating, sexual, and misperception experiences and alcohol consumption during these experiences predicted assault group status. Furthermore, alcohol consumption during consensual sex and sexual misperceptions were positively related to alcohol consumption during the sexual assault. The predictors of assault group status were similar for African American and Caucasian women. Theoretical implications are discussed and suggestions are made for combining alcohol and sexual assault prevention programming.

a b s t r a c tIn this paper, we present the results of the construction and validation of a new psychometric tool for measuring beliefs about free will and related concepts: The Free Will Inventory (FWI). In its final form, FWI is a 29-item instrument with two parts. Part 1 consists of three 5-item subscales designed to measure strength of belief in free will, determinism, and dualism. Part 2 consists of a series of fourteen statements designed to further explore the complex network of people's associated beliefs and attitudes about free will, determinism, choice, the soul, predictability, responsibility, and punishment. Having presented the construction and validation of FWI, we discuss several ways that it could be used in future research, highlight some as yet unanswered questions that are ripe for interdisciplinary investigation, and encourage researchers to join us in our efforts to answer these questions.

Models of risk-taking as used in the social sciences may be improved by including concepts from life history theory, particularly environmental unpredictability and life expectancy. Community college students completed self-report questionnaires measuring these constructs along with several well-known correlates. The frequency of risk-taking was higher for those with higher future unpredictability beliefs and shorter lifespan estimates (as measured by the Future Lifespan Assessment developed for this study), and unpredictability beliefs remained significant after accounting for standard predictors, such as sex and temperament. The results demonstrate the usefulness of applying concepts from life history theory to enhance our understanding of human behavior.

The present paper describes a conceptual model of possible antecedents, markers, and consequences of unpredictability schemas, and outlines empirical support for the model. Early experiences, especially those pertaining to one's family, are the basis for the development of an unpredictability schema. To date, an unpredictability schema has been measured indirectly with scales that tap a variety of interrelated beliefs. Measures of such beliefs show associations with risk taking. An unpredictability schema, thus, may be an overlooked factor in risk-taking behavior. The present model takes a multidisciplinary approach and makes two major contributions. First, it integrates psychological constructs that have not previously been linked. Second, it clarifies existing relationships among background characteristics and riskrelated outcomes. Implications for prevention and intervention programming are discussed.Research suggests an association between several aspects of risk-taking and background characteristics such as socioeconomic status (SES). Little is known about the mechanisms that account for this association. Unpredictability is proposed to help explain the relationship between background characteristics and risk-taking. Specifically, this paper explores the importance of environmental SOCIAL