Using a method different from that of past studies, first-date scripts of heterosexual college students were reexamined. As expected, the new approach did not change the findings of earlier research. Despite egalitarian claims, the initial dating practices of students consistently appear to be primarily traditionalistic. Supporting the findings of past studies, the authors found that scripts for both sexes are well-known to both men and women, making the formats of first dates highly predictable. Current popular advice from dating guides reinforces “appropriate” behaviors and attends far more to differences between the sexes than to their similarities. The contemporary “semi-egalitarian, semi-traditional” perspectives of students may not serve them well in their longer term relationships.

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This study replicates and expands Rose and Frieze's (1989) research, which found that young adults' scripts for dating maintain the traditional dominant/subordinate relationship between the sexes. In a 1993 study, Rose and Frieze looked at actual, rather than hypothetical, dates and reported essentially the same finding. The authors used Rose and Frieze's 1989 design with a larger sample and found that although daters may claim to be egalitarian, their dates follow the traditionalist pattern that Rose and Frieze described. In a second study, the authors asked for descriptions of first dates with persons whom respondents already knew from work, school, and so forth, rather than with the relative stranger about whom earlier versions had asked. Varying the level of familiarity with a partner did not produce a different result. Implications are drawn from the findings and suggestions for future research are offered.

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