Assessing sexual consent beliefs of Tulane University students participating in fraternity and sorority life
Description
Sexual violence is a public health crisis on college campuses due to its pervasive nature and deleterious. Experiencing sexual violence increases the risk for many psychological issues including anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts. When these mental health challenges occur in a college context, victims’ academic achievement can also be adversely affected. Sexual violence is a particularly salient issue on Tulane University’s campus. As of 2017, approximately 33% of all undergraduate Tulane students have experienced some form of sexual assault since matriculating. This study is focused on assessing the sexual consent beliefs of Tulane University students participating in Greek life. Students affiliated with Greek life are not only more likely to experience sexual violence but also perpetrate it. Subjects were recruited to voluntarily participate in the survey via email with 308 participants completing the survey. The Process-Based Consent Scale was utilized to assess sexual consent beliefs, and demographic information on gender, council, race, age, region of U.S., relationship status, sexuality, and class classification was captured. Significant differences were found between fraternity men and sorority women in the subtle coercion subscale with fraternity men having higher levels of agreement with subtle coercion techniques than sorority women. Significant differences were also found between people with differing relationship statuses for the communicative sexuality subscale with those in relationships having the highest levels of agreement with comfort with communicating about sex and sexuality. There were also moderately significant differences between people with different sexualities for the communicative sexuality subscale with those identifying as non-heterosexual having the highest levels of agreement with comfort with communicating about sex and sexuality. These significant differences indicate that individual identities and backgrounds has an impact on one’s beliefs regarding the aspects of sexual consent that were measured.