Associations between internal and external sexual consent in a diverse national sample of women

Thanks for the offer: Testing drink offers as predictors of sexual activity

Objective: Drink offers are related to increased alcohol consumption, which is linked to sexual activity among college students. However, offers of alcohol may increase the odds of sexual activity that night independent of the amount of alcohol consumed. Participants: 540 undergraduate students were recruited for a longitudinal study of daily experiences. Method: Participants completed up to four annual waves of a measurement burst daily diary study. Using these longitudinal data, we examined whether receiving a drink offer on a given night was related to greater odds of having sex. Results: Receiving a drink offer (but not the number of drinks accepted) is related to greater odds of having sex, controlling for drinking level. Conclusions: Receiving a drink offer is uniquely related to odds of having sex when controlling for the amount of alcohol participants consumed. This may have implications for psychological functioning and relationship development.

Myths of trauma memory: on the oversimplification of effects of attention narrowing under stress

The present article addresses claims commonly made by prosecution witnesses in sexual assault trials: that attention narrows under stress, and that these attended aspects of the event are encoded in a way that ensures accuracy and resistance to fading and distortion. We provide evidence to contradict such claims. Given that what is encoded is largely the gist of one's interpretation of experience, we discuss the way in which attention and emotion can bias the interpretation of experience. We illustrate with issues of memory reports in cases of acquaintance rape, where the primary issue is the presence or absence of consent. We provide some specific illustrations concerning effects of emotion on interpretation of sexual consent. Finally, based on what is known regarding priming effects on memory retrieval and judgment, we conclude with discussion of the potential of some "trauma-informed" interviewing strategies to promote false memories (such as FETI: Forensic Experiential Trauma Interview).

Yes, No, Maybe So: The Effects of Relationship Status on Perceptions of Inferred Consent

Despite the notion that sexual consent is either granted or refused, its communication can sometimes be ambiguous. This uncertainty stems from the tendency to rely on implicit, nonverbal cues to indicate consent. Without clear, explicit communication, people might be encouraged to rely upon contextual information when assessing whether a sexual encounter was consensual. Perceived levels of intimacy and familiarity in a relationship might influence these perceptions, such that prior intimacy might lead to ambiguously communicated consent being interpreted as more consensual. Gender roles can dictate the behaviors expected in a sexual encounter, with female-initiated sexual violence against men potentially being perceived as more consensual than the inverse. The current study examined how relationship type (Experiments 1 and 2) and gender pairing (Experiment 2) influenced participants' perceptions of how consensual various sexual encounters were. Participants read a series of vignettes in which sexual consent was verbally granted, verbally rejected, or inferred using nonverbal cues. Additionally, the dyads' relationships were either described as dating, friends, or strangers. Following vignette presentation, participants provided judgments regarding how consensual the interactions were. Experiment 2 expanded upon this by manipulating the gender of the initiators and targets. When consent was not clearly indicated, more established relationships were associated with higher ratings of perceived consent. Male targets were attributed more responsibility for sexual interactions, and they were also believed to want nonconsensual sex more than female targets. These findings highlight the importance of contextual information in instances where sexual consent is unclear.

Sexual Victimization, Emotion Dysregulation, and Sexual Consent Feelings and Communication During a Recent Sexual Encounter

Sexual consent has been a major focus of campus campaigns to reduce sexual violence (SV). However, these campaigns often educate students about consent with little attention to the complex ways consent can be experienced, expressed, and interpreted by others. Further, little research has focused on the consent feelings and communication cues of students who have a history of SV, nor have studies examined how the ability to attend to and regulate emotions relates to internal feelings or external communication of consent. This secondary analysis examined SV histories, emotion dysregulation, and internal and external consent cues in a sample of 610 college students (72% women) who completed an online self-report survey. Findings revealed that students with SV histories (n = 257) reported greater emotion dysregulation, lower internal consent, and greater use of passive external consent cues compared to students without SV histories; greater emotion dysregulation was associated with lower internal consent. In a path model, SV history was indirectly related to use of direct nonverbal and passive consent cues through greater emotion dysregulation and lower internal consent. Contrary to expectations, higher internal consent was associated with greater use of passive external consent cues. Consent programming could be augmented to encourage attention to and regulation of emotions in sexual situations to improve communication and sexual well-being.

Internal Consent, Affirmative External Consent, and Sexual Satisfaction Among Young Adults

Sexual satisfaction is an important part of sexual health. Recently, efforts have been underway to better understand what factors contribute to positive sexual experiences among young adults. One factor may be sexual consent. This study aimed to explore individual and interactive effects of two distinct, but related dimensions of sexual consent - internal consent and affirmative external consent - on young adults' feelings of sexual satisfaction following their most recent sexual intercourse experience. Participants were 294 young adults (ages 18-25, Mage = 23.7; 59% women) recruited from Amazon's MTurk. Results showed that each dimension of consent had a significant, unique relationship with satisfaction, and that the two dimensions of consent alone accounted for half of the variance in satisfaction. Additional analyses showed that there are specific components of both internal and affirmative external consent (e.g., safety/comfort; arousal; consent/want; communicator/initiator cues) that may be most influential in driving this relationship. As both consent dimensions greatly contribute to positive sexual experiences, researchers attempting to promote sexual wellbeing may be wise to attend to both internal and external consent.

Sexual Consent on Television: Differing Portrayal Effects on Adolescent Viewers

We conducted two studies to examine the portrayal of sexual consent and refusal in adolescent-directed programing and the effects of viewing this content on adolescents. In a quantitative content analysis, nonverbal consent cues were more prevalent than verbal consent cues. The presence of consent cues did not significantly differ by character gender, relationship status, or sexual behavior. Using a three-way between-subjects experiment, we examined the influence of exposure to media depictions of verbal sexual consent on adolescents' intentions to seek verbal sexual consent (n = 402, 61.4% girls, ages 12-18, M = 15.8, SD = 2.1). Exposure to verbal consent positively influenced intentions to seek verbal consent via increased positive attitudes toward women. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Sexual consent norms in a cross-sectional national sample of the UK

BACKGROUND

Sexual assault is a pervasive problem in the UK, and young women are disproportionately affected. We sought to provide an initial account of sexual consent norms in the UK and whether they differ by gender and age.

METHOD

The present study was a secondary analysis of data collected by the Family Planning Association, which conducted an online survey (N = 2003) to assess experiences with, knowledge of, and attitudes toward consent. The sample represented all regions of the UK and spanned ages 14-55.

RESULTS

Definitions of sexual consent endorsed by women and older age groups more closely aligned with the tenets of affirmative consent compared with men and younger age groups. Women and older age groups were also more likely to perceive that various nonverbal cues may be used to interpret sexual consent or refusal and were more supportive of people being able to withdraw their sexual consent.

CONCLUSION

Maladaptive sexual consent norms seemed to be prevalent among men and young people in the UK, which may contribute to young women's elevated risk of experiencing sexual assault. Our findings support the UK's recent relationships and sex education curriculum that actively promotes healthy sexual consent norms.

"Are they into each other?" What drinking alcohol and leaving a party together signal to college students about sexual intent

OBJECTIVE

Misperception of sexual intent is linked to incidence of sexual assault. The present study tested the effects of gender, alcohol consumption, and leaving a party together, in isolation and in interaction, on perceptions of sexual intent.

PARTICIPANTS

Undergraduates (N = 438) completed an online survey between Winter 2017 and Winter 2018.

METHODS

Participants read one of eight versions of a vignette about a social interaction between male and female college-aged acquaintances and rated the targets' sexual interest in each other. Who was consuming alcohol (both targets, female only, male only, or neither) and whether the targets left together were manipulated.

RESULTS

Alcohol consumption and leaving together interacted. Leaving together signified to participants that both targets had greater sexual intent. When targets left separately, participants viewed both targets as less sexually interested in each other when only the female was drinking.

CONCLUSIONS

Implications for sexual assault on college campuses are discussed.

Sexual Consent Across Diverse Behaviors and Contexts: Gender Differences and Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences

Sexual consent refers to people's internal willingness to engage in sexual activity with another person-as well as their external communication of that willingness. Internal and external sexual consent can vary by type of sexual behavior; however, previous research on sexual consent has primarily only assessed "typical" sexual behaviors such as genital touching, oral sex, and vaginal-penile sex without providing further context or acknowledging people's sexual diversity. Therefore, we provided an initial account of people's sexual consent-and lack thereof-for a broader array of sexual behaviors and contexts in which they occur. Using an online cross-sectional survey of participants in the United Kingdom and the United States (N = 658, 50.5% women), we examined event-level internal and external sexual consent for 20 sexual behaviors or contexts. Women reported significantly lower levels of sexual consent feelings than men for 12 of the 20 sexual behaviors and lower levels of active consent communication for 7 of them. Almost a third of participants (31.0%) had experienced at least one of the listed sexual behaviors against their will. Of those, participants on average reported nonconsensual experiences with 3.1 of the 20 types of sexual behavior listed, ranging from 1 to 11. More women reported at least one nonconsensual experience with one of the sexual behaviors assessed compared with men (47.9% versus 22.3%, respectively). We discussed several behavior-specific findings regarding sexual consent and the lack thereof. We also made recommendations for initiatives aimed at promoting healthy sexual consent practices: embrace sexual diversity, emphasize sexual agency, and encourage active consent communication.

A Qualitative Examination of Withdrawing Sexual Consent, Sexual Compliance, and Young Women's Role as Sexual Gatekeepers

Introduction: Withdrawing consent for sex may be difficult for young women due to gendered sexual scripts and male persistence. Method: 40 students from Canadian universities (31 women; Mean age = 20.20 years; 75% heterosexual) were asked open-ended questions about sexual experiences and consent; data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Women perceived that: (1) women were responsible for communicating consent, (2) they were unaware it was acceptable to withdraw consent or did not know how to, (3) male partners often persisted in response to withdrawal of consent, and (4) these experiences factored into compliance. Conclusion: Sexual consent education, at least in North America, should increase emphasis on withdrawing consent.

Testing the Internal Consent Scale for Measurement Invariance Across Women and Men

The Internal Consent Scale (ICS) was created to measure feelings associated with a person’s willingness to engage in partnered sexual activity. Although previous studies using the ICS have assessed gender differences, evidence has not been provided to suggest that the ICS functions similarly for women and men. Using data from an online cross-sectional survey of adults (N = 874; 53.1% women), we subjected the 25-item ICS to tests of measurement invariance across gender. We found that only partial measurement invariance was tenable, which indicated that direct comparisons across gender should be interpreted with caution when using the ICS. Therefore, we created a gender-invariant short form. In support of construct validity, we found that this 15-item ICS–Short Form demonstrated similar associations with measures of sexual consent communication as the full 25-item ICS. If researchers aim to compare women and men on internal sexual consent, we recommend using the 15-item ICS–Short Form. Cognitive interviews should be conducted to further understand how women and men might differentially interpret ICS items.

Momentary versus Retrospective Sexual Consent Perceptions

Perceiving potential indicators of a person's willingness is an integral component of sexual consent. Preliminary qualitative evidence using vignettes suggested that consent perceptions can change over the course of a sexual scenario. In the present study, we extended previous research by directly comparing momentary and retrospective sexual consent perceptions using a quantitative study design. Employing a staggered vignette protocol, we examined participants' (n = 962; 72.0% female) momentary perceptions of fictional characters' sexual consent and compared them with participants' retrospective perceptions of the characters' consent. We hypothesized that participants would demonstrate a hindsight bias in that they would retrospectively indicate they thought the fictional characters were first willing to engage in sexual behavior earlier than when they did momentarily. We found that differences in participants' momentary versus retrospective perceptions of characters' sexual consent varied by the type of behavior. As we expected, participants demonstrated a hindsight bias for making out. Contrary to our hypothesis, participants were hesitant to retrospectively report that the characters were willing to engage in the other sexual behaviors (e.g., oral, vaginal, anal sex) at a point earlier than their momentary perceptions. That momentary and retrospective sexual consent perceptions significantly differ corroborates previous recommendations that sexual consent be conceptualized as an ongoing process.

Latent Profiles of Internal and External Consent During a Recent Sexual Encounter

Understanding how individuals conceptualize and communicate sexual consent is critical to sexual health and has important implications for the prevention of sexual assault. This study used a data-driven (vs. a theoretical) approach to understand how students' internal feelings of willingness (i.e., internal consent) and behavioral communication of consent (i.e., external consent) cluster together within sexual encounters. Using data from 610 college students (72% female) who reported on their most recent sexual encounter, latent profile analysis revealed five distinct consent profiles. Most students reported willing encounters that involved the use of several external consent cues (68.9%), a small group reported low levels of both internal and external consent (3.8%), and three groups (27.3% altogether) reported encounters with complex patterns of internal and external consent. Demographic and encounter-level differences were observed across profiles. Programming that trains students to attend to their own internal desires in addition to external consent behaviors could improve emotional health and shift social norms about sexual communication.

Sexual Consent Perceptions of a Fictional Vignette: A Latent Growth Curve Model

Sexual consent can be conceptualized as a process of accumulating cues that build toward and continue throughout a consensual sexual encounter. How people perceive the cues of others during this process is an important aspect of consent. However, previous research has not investigated the trajectories of people's consent perceptions throughout such a process. Using a novel staggered vignette protocol, we examined participants' (N = 1218; 64.4% female) perceptions of fictional targets' sexual consent at 11 time points. We tested latent growth curve models using multilevel structural equation modeling to examine trajectories in consent perceptions over the course of the vignette. We hypothesized that mean differences and rates of change would be associated with several constructs relevant to sexual consent. We found that initial consent perceptions and trends over the course of the vignette varied by whether the participant was a university student, by an alcohol manipulation in the vignette, by the fictional target's sex, and by type of sexual behavior. Researchers should examine whether our findings on consent perceptions of a fictional vignette extend to people's actual sexual encounters, including potential associations between the three primary aspects of sexual consent: perceptions, feelings, and communication.

Assessing the Within-Person Variability of Internal and External Sexual Consent

Sexual consent is often conceptualized as an internal willingness to engage in sexual activity, which can be communicated externally to a sexual partner. Internal sexual consent comprises feelings of physical response, safety/comfort, arousal, agreement/want, and readiness; external sexual consent includes communication cues that may be explicit or implicit and verbal or nonverbal. Most previous research on sexual consent has focused on between-person differences; little attention has been devoted to examining the within-person variation of sexual consent across time. We conducted a 28-day experience sampling methodology (ESM) study with a sample of adults (N = 113) to assess fluctuations in internal and external sexual consent across a given person's sexual events. We found that more than 50% and up to 80% of the variance in sexual consent scores could be accounted for by within-person variability. The type of sexual behavior participants engaged in during a sexual event predicted their internal and external consent. Further, internal consent feelings predicted external consent communication. Overall, our findings provided initial evidence regarding the extent that situational contexts are relevant for sexual consent. ESM study designs may be used to further investigate the potential contextual, intrapersonal, and interpersonal factors associated with internal and external sexual consent.

Assessing Young Adults' Internal Feelings Related to Refusing Sexual Behavior

Young people describe refusing sexual activity as difficult or embarrassing; however, what specific internal feelings young adults associate with refusing sexual activity is unclear. We assessed the positive and negative internal feelings related to refusing different sexual behaviors using sentiment analysis. We also examined if positive and negative internal refusal feelings varied by gender and the intersection of gender and racial/ethnic identity. Young adults (n = 574, 481 women, 93 men, M = 19.2, SD = 1.43) from Canada and the U.S. completed an open-ended survey about how they felt about their experiences refusing sexual activity. Using sentiment analysis, responses were coded as either positive or negative and overwhelmingly, feelings associated with refusing sexual activity were identified as negative. Women and women of color reported more negative feelings than men and White women. However, there were some distinct positive feelings noted from young adults (e.g., feeling respected, comfortable). Young adults appear to internalize negative feelings about their refusals which may relate to social and cultural norms. Moving forward, sexual health programs could focus on normalizing and destigmatizing refusals so that young adults do not feel negatively about refusing sexual activity, with a particular emphasis on helping women and women of color to feel confident and empowered in their refusals.

Effects of Typical and Binge Drinking on Sexual Consent Perceptions and Communication

Young adults frequently engage in sexual activity after consuming alcohol and, consequently, may try to communicate sexual consent while intoxicated. We aimed to assess how people's drinking behaviors relate to their consent perceptions and communication with their current sexual partners. Using aggregated data from a 30-day daily diary study, young adults (n = 86, 77.9% women, 86% in a monogamous relationship) reported instances of partnered sexual activity and their perceptions of whether that activity was consensual. For each partnered sexual event, participants reported what they said or did to perceive the sexual activity as consensual. Responses were coded as active consent communication (i.e., using verbal or nonverbal cues) or tacit knowledge (i.e., using context to understand consent). During an exit survey, participants retrospectively reported how many days they drank (i.e., typical drinking) during the 30-day study and whether they binge drank. Typical and binge drinking were associated with identifying sexual experiences as consensual. Participants who binge drank relied less on active consent communication and more on context compared with those who did not binge drink. Young adults who binge drink may rely more on tacit knowledge because alcohol impedes their ability to process complex stimuli-such as active consent cues.

Developing Valid and Feasible Measures of Sexual Consent for Experience Sampling Methodology

Preliminary evidence indicates that people's sexual consent (i.e., their willingness to engage in sexual activity and communication of that willingness) varies across time and context. Study designs that assess sexual consent at multiple time points (e.g., experience sampling methodology [ESM]) are needed to better understand the within-person variability of sexual consent. However, extant validated measures of sexual consent are not appropriate for ESM studies, which require shorter assessments due to the increased burden this methodology has on participants. As such, the goal of the present study was to develop ESM measures of sexual consent based on items that have previously been validated for use in cross-sectional surveys. We selected items that balanced face validity as evidenced by cognitive interviews (n = 10) and content validity as evidenced by experts' ratings (n = 6). To assess the construct validity and feasibility of these items, we administered the selected ESM measures of sexual consent in a seven-day pilot study (n = 12). The results suggested that the ESM measures developed in the present study were a valid and feasible assessment of people's experience-specific internal consent feelings and external consent communication. We conclude with recommendations for sex researchers interested in ESM.

Sexual Consent in Committed Relationships: A Dyadic Study

Sexual consent is a multidimensional construct that requires the participation of all involved in a sexual encounter; however, previous research has almost exclusively relied on one person's perspective. To address this, we collected open- and closed-ended data on sexual consent from 37 dyads in committed sexual relationships (N = 74). We found that relationship length was associated with sexual consent and couples who accurately perceived each other's consent communication cues reported elevated levels of internal consent feelings. Communicating willingness to engage in sexual activity remains important even within committed relationships. Preliminary findings suggest that further investigations of dyadic nuances of sexual consent are warranted.

Sexual Consent at First-Time Intercourse: Retrospective Reports from University Students in Canada and the United States

Objectives

We investigated whether the context of first-time intercourse (FTI) was associated with internal consent feelings and external consent communication at FTI.

Method

College students (n = 1020) from universities in Canada and the United States retrospectively reported on their FTI.

Results

Using structural equation modeling, we found that the context of participants' FTI (e.g. age, contraceptive use) predicted their internal consent, which in turn predicted their external consent communication.

Conclusions

Sexual health education should highlight these contextual correlates of sexual consent at FTI. Despite the cultural primacy of FTI, consent should also be prioritized for other early sexual experiences.

Internal and external sexual consent during events that involved alcohol, cannabis, or both

Background Substance-involved sexual activity is common. Even though people recognise that substance-related impairment can be a barrier to people's ability to consent to sexual activity, most do not believe that substance use automatically negates sexual consent. We extended previous work on substance-related effects on internal and external consent by investigating sexual events that involved alcohol, cannabis, or both.

METHODS

For 28 days, 113 participants (MAge = 29.2 years, 57.5% women, 70.8% White) responded to three surveys per day on their personal devices. At time points when participants reported having engaged in partnered sexual activity, they were asked to report their alcohol use, cannabis use, internal consent feelings, and external consent communication.

RESULTS

Across 1189 partnered sexual events, 31.5% involved alcohol, cannabis, or both. Sexual events that involved combined use were associated with diminished feelings of safety/comfort and feelings that the sexual act was consensual, compared with events that involved neither substance. Greater levels of alcohol consumption were descriptively associated with lower ratings of internal sexual consent.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that combined use of alcohol and cannabis may lead to lower internal sexual consent than using either substance alone - potentially due to greater levels of impairment associated with polysubstance use. Sexual health education programs should consider more nuanced approaches to teaching people how to navigate substance use and sexual consent.

Assessing How Gender, Relationship Status, and Item Wording Influence Cues Used by College Students to Decline Different Sexual Behaviors

Researchers rarely examine college students' event-level refusals and how refusals may change based on sexual behavior, gender, or relationship status. As such, we assessed how sexual behavior and demographic characteristics influence cues students use to decline sexual activity. As an exploratory aim, we examined the influence of item wording (such as reading the words, not willing/non-consent vs. refusal) on how students reported declining sexual activity. A sample of 615 college students from Canada and the U.S. completed a survey; students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions that manipulated item wording (not willing/non-consent vs. refusal). Students were then prompted with four open-ended questions that asked how they refused/communicated non-consent for four sexual behaviors. An inductive coding procedure was used and five overarching themes emerged. Three themes included explicit and implicit verbal cues and two themes included explicit and implicit non-verbal cues. Wording condition (i.e., not willing/non-consent v. refusal) did not influence the types of cues reported by students. Refusal communication varied by sexual behavior and relationship status but not gender. Sexual assault prevention initiatives should include more information about the variety of refusal cues used by college students in their programming, as many of these cues are currently absent.

Sexual Consent Communication in Best-Selling Pornography Films: A Content Analysis

Even though young people report learning about sex from pornography, most do not think this sexual medium teaches them about sexual consent communication. But research shows that people are also able to evaluate pornography as consensual or not. Therefore, we proposed that pornography depicts subtle sexual scripts regarding sexual consent communication. We conducted a content analysis of 50 20-minute segments within best-selling pornographic films from 2015. We systematically coded the presence of various consent communication cues in these films. Consent communication was often depicted; nonverbal cues were more frequent than verbal cues. We found that the films either directly or indirectly supported several sexual scripts: Explicit Verbal Consent Isn't Natural, Women are Indirect/Men are Direct, Sex Can Happen Without Ongoing Communication, Lower-Order Behaviors Don't Need Explicit Consent, and People Receiving Sexual Behaviors Can Consent by Doing Nothing. Further research is needed to examine whether viewers are acquiring, activating, or applying these scripts. Sex education programs could benefit from acknowledging how consent communication is modeled in pornography and by teaching about pornography literacy.