College Students' Perceptions of Sexual Consent

Abstract

Consent is a key issue in defining sexual violence, yet few studies have examined the normative ways that college students believe that ambiguous behaviors should be interpreted within a sexual encounter. In the present study, 202 undergraduate men and women completed a questionnaire designed to examine to what degree participants thought a hypothetical initiator should assume that the behaviors of a hypothetical responder indicated consent to sexual intercourse. We tested how such judgments (i.e., consent ratings) were affected by participant gender, responder gender, and initiation type (verbal or nonverbal). Exploratory factor analysis of 26 responses indicated four factors, which we labeled as different response types: Positive-reciprocal responses, Positive responses, Unclear responses, and Clear Negative responses. Results indicated a main effect for participant gender, such that men gave higher consent ratings than women, which was partially explained by increased rape myth acceptance. Additionally, an interaction was found between response type, responder gender, and initiation type. Findings may have implications for how colleges judge student sexual misconduct cases and for student sexual violence prevention programs.