What Influences College Students’ Endorsement or Rejection of Affirmative Consent?

Affirmative consent policies and practices, which require consent to have certain characteristics (e.g., reversible, specific, voluntary), contrast with traditional views of consent. Understanding why college students endorse or reject this model can help foster safer, more respectful campus sexual relationships. Among 316 southern U.S. undergraduates (81% cisgender women, 83.2% White, 71.5% liberal, 65.2% heterosexual), affirmative consent beliefs correlated significantly with gender, sexual identity, and political orientation. Lower apathy toward the issue of sexual misconduct on their college campus, as well as more egalitarian gender role beliefs, predicted higher endorsement of affirmative consent among college students. Interventions should target attitudinal shifts to challenge harmful myths and promote positive beliefs about consent and sexuality.