DAVIS, Calif., April 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher suggests miscommunication is a major reason for why men often misinterpret women's indirect messages to stop or slow sexual intimacy.

Michael Motley of the University of California at Davis gave 30 female and 60 male undergraduates a questionnaire with common "female resistance messages" such as: "I'm seeing someone else."

Women were asked to recall when she used the message and choose what she meant. Such as:

-- You want to go further but you want him to know that it doesn't mean that you're committed.

-- You want to go further but you want him to be discreet, so the other guy doesn't find out.

-- You want to go further but you want him to realize, in case you end up together that you may do this with someone else.

-- You don't want to go further.

Half of the men were asked to recall when a women gave him the message and choose what they thought she meant. The other 30 men were instructed to choose the interpretation they would mean.

The research in Motley's book, "Studies in Applied Interpersonal Communication" said men were accurate at interpreting direct resistance messages like "Let's stop this," but were as apt to interpret "Let's be friends" to mean "keep going" as to "stop."

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