Presenters: Ashlynn Poelman, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Political Science
Authors: Ashlynn B. Poelman, Sarah M. Michaelis, Daniel J. Little
Faculty Advisors: Steven Sylvester, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Political Science
Institution: Utah Valley University
This presentation focuses on our research regarding public support for sexual consent education in public high schools. Our research sought to determine if providing a definition of sexual consent would increase support for consent education curricula. To do so, we distributed a cross-sectional survey to 7,073 adults across the United States. To measure the effect of definitions for sexual consent on survey respondents' favorability toward consent education, survey participants were first questioned about their support for consent education in public high schools generally. Second, we then provided survey respondents three different definitions of consent and prompted them to choose which they deemed most appropriate. Third, by comparing responses to the aforementioned questions, we were able to measure the change in support resulting from the provision of a definition. This analysis revealed an increase in support for the inclusion of sexual consent education curricula in public high schools by 11.2%. We further measured this change across the following population characteristics: proximity to assault, religiosity, political ideology, policy preference, age, race, income, gender, and education. Published literature indicates divisive trends among the above characteristics, however, our findings concluded that none of these were particularly polarized. This study, therefore, supports the link between the availability and clarity of a definition of sexual consent and overall support for consent education programs in public high schools.