Adolescents' Understanding of Consent and Associations With Sexual Violence Experiences

Adolescents have a nontrivial risk of sexual violence (SV) victimization. Comprehension of sexual consent is posited to reduce victimization rates; however, few studies have examined adolescents' comprehension of consent and its relationship to SV. The objectives of this study are thus to examine how adolescents' contextual understanding of consent relates to their experiences of SV victimization and perpetration.

Cross-sectional data (N = 452) were collected from high school students from the southeast U.S. Ordinal least squares regression analyses were conducted to test the association of consent understanding with gender, age, and SV victimization and perpetration.

Generally, adolescents lacked a definitive comprehension of more contextual consent practices (e.g., in long-term relationships, use of coercion or pressure). While concrete understanding of consent decreased with age for adolescents girls and contextual understanding increased with age for adolescent boys, levels of understanding were not associated with SV victimization or perpetration.

Findings suggest that greater consent knowledge may not mitigate SV experiences. Despite efforts to educate youth about the necessity of consent, comprehension and practice of procedures to obtain consent may be inadequate to protect against SV. There is a need for further research on how consent is taught to and understood by adolescents.