Exploring early adolescents’ perceptions of sexual consent: A mixed methods analysis
Notice bibliographique
Résumé
Sexual consent is a fundamental component of healthy sexual exploration. Despite the perceived importance of consent in preventing sexual violence, it remains an understudied topic among the adolescent population, and early adolescents (ages 10 to 14) in particular. Given that early adolescence is when many people begin forming intimate relationships and exploring their sexual identities, it is critical to understand how they perceive sexual consent and communication processes to effectively inform the sex education and violence prevention programs that they receive. This exploratory, mixed-methods research examines how this age group conceptualizes sexual consent, as well as the dominant influences and discourses that shape their understanding. This three-paper dissertation addresses the following research questions: Paper 1: What beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours do early adolescents hold regarding sexual consent? What factors are associated with endorsement of sexual consent values among early adolescents? Paper 2: What are the dominant sexual consent discourses depicted in popular media? Paper 3: How is sexual consent defined and conceptualized by early adolescents? What sources and influences have informed early adolescents’ conceptualizations of sexual consent, and in what ways? Paper 1 is a cross-sectional analysis using pre-test data from a larger program evaluation study. This paper examines the sexual consent beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours of 254 middle school students from a large, urban city in Ontario, Canada. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses revealed that greater perceived negative sanctions of dating violence and higher endorsement of gender stereotypes predicted the endorsement of positive consent values. Gender was also a significant correlate, with girls more likely than boys to endorse positive sexual consent values. Paper 2 is a qualitative analysis of popular song lyrics from the 2023 Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart. A subsample of songs (n=65) containing references to sexual behaviours or intimate relationships were analyzed thematically to understand the dominant discourses of sexual consent represented in popular music. The findings show gendered portrayals of sexual scripts and norms. Men were predominantly characterized as active—and at times, aggressive—initiators of sexual activity, while women were depicted in more passive roles by accommodating men’s sexual desires. In addition, some female artists’ lyrics demonstrated empowerment and agency, albeit often within frameworks that reinforced patriarchal norms and objectification. Paper 3 is a constructivist grounded theory study to develop a theoretical explanation for early adolescents’ process of defining and conceptualizing sexual consent communication. Fifteen semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with early adolescents between the ages of 11 and 14. The results highlight a dual perspective among participants: consent as a straightforward verbal process and consent as a complex, context-sensitive phenomenon conditioned by relational and societal factors. Participants often adopted oversimplified and binary understandings of consent influenced by broader cultural discourses alongside their awareness of pressures, constraints, and non-verbal communication strategies. Taken together, these findings have significant implications for sexual violence prevention and consent education. Current programs fall short in aligning their content with adolescents’ lived realities, leading to irrelevant and ineffective instruction. This study highlights the importance of addressing gender norms, sexual scripts, relational fears and pressures, and prevailing consent discourses, offering valuable guidance for sexual violence education, prevention, and intervention.
Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.
Comment cette classification a été obtenuedéplier
Prédiction machine sur la base complète
Imitation des enseignantsNi prévalence calibrée, ni vérité terrain. Validation humaine à venir. Le volet Gemma est une étiquette directe du modèle pour chaque travail de la base, lue sur la notice réduite au titre. Le volet Codex est un classifieur appris des 10 348 étiquettes directes de Codex et calibré sur les taux pondérés de l'échantillon; les champs sans appui suffisant ne portent aucun appel Codex. Le mode candidate est l'union des deux volets; le consensus est leur intersection. Ces sorties portent le statut machine_predicted_unvalidated et ne sont pas des étiquettes humaines.
Scores du classifieur distillé par catégorie (deux têtes)
| Catégorie | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Métarecherche | 0,027 | 0,028 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens strict) | 0,000 | 0,001 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens large) | 0,001 | 0,002 |
| Bibliométrie | 0,003 | 0,004 |
| Études des sciences et des technologies | 0,002 | 0,001 |
| Communication savante | 0,002 | 0,001 |
| Science ouverte | 0,001 | 0,002 |
| Intégrité de la recherche | 0,001 | 0,001 |
| Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger) | 0,002 | 0,000 |
Scores machine (provisoires)
Les deux têtes enseignantes du modèle étudiant, lues sur ce travail. Un score ordonne la base pour la relecture; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie, et le statut de validation accompagne chaque rangée tel quel.
Scores de référence d'un modèle non mature (critères de maturité non atteints, 7 itérations). Un score ordonne; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · tel quel depuis la passe de notation : score_only signifie que le nombre peut ordonner les travaux, et qu'aucune étiquette de catégorie n'en découleClassification
machine, non validéePrédiction automatique; un appel candidat d’une seule source (Gemma direct ou Codex distillé), pas un consensus.
Le détail, modèle par modèle et score par score, se trouve en fin de page sous « Comment cette classification a été obtenue ».