The Sexual Consent Scale-Revised (SCS-R) measures an individual's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors with respect to how sexual consent should be and is negotiated between sexual partners. This study extends previous research on sexual consent by revising a scale using the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991, 2001, 2005) as its theoretical foundation. The psychometric properties of the SCS-R were established using factor analysis, construct validity tests, as well as internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Five factors emerged: perceived behavioral control, positive attitude toward establishing consent, sexual consent norms, indirect consent behaviors, and awareness of consent. Results indicated that the SCS-R can be useful for examining a variety of research questions relating to sexual consent.

Sexual coercion (SC), or making another person engage in sexual activity despite his or her unwillingness to do so, has been shown to have negative consequences for victims, namely depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and a negative view of one's sexual self. The goals of the present study were to investigate the rate of SC victimization and perpetration, inter-partner agreement concerning its occurrence, in addition to its degree of reciprocity within a sample of 222 heterosexual couples. SC within previous romantic relationships was also examined. Results showed that less than 30% of couples agreed on the occurrence of sexual coercion within their ongoing relationship. Moreover, dyadic responses rather than individual responses provided a more accurate estimation of the frequency of SC. Over one in two couples reported experiencing some SC. More specifically, 45% of couples reported female victimization, 30% reported male victimization, and 20% reported reciprocal SC. Conversely, both men and women reported more SC victimization within previous relationships than in their current one. Findings suggest that SC is a common, pervasive problem within couples and that it is underreported by both victims and perpetrators, regardless of gender. Consequently, more systematic research, prevention and intervention efforts are warranted.

Research suggests that a history of childhood sexual abuse, and previous experiences of sexual coercion, may predict sexual coercion victimization and perpetration. More recently, sexual motivation has been found to correlate with both consensual and non-consensual sexual activity. However, sexual motivation has not been examined in association with previous experiences of abuse and sexual coercion. The aim of this study was to investigate childhood sexual abuse, previous sexual coercion experiences, and sexual motives of both partners as possible risk factors for current sexual coercion victimization and perpetration within a sample of 209 mixed-sex couples. This study examined whether power, stress relief, partner pressure, and imposition motives contributed unique variance to the prediction of sexual coercion beyond that accounted for by past childhood sexual abuse and sexual coercion events. Using hierarchical logistic regressions, four predictive models were examined for both male and female sexual coercion perpetration and victimization. Results show that childhood sexual abuse was only a significant predictor of female sexual coercion perpetration, whereas male sexual coercion victimization and perpetration were predicted by sexual coercion victimization and perpetration in previous relationships. Power motives were also significant predictors of sexual coercion perpetration, and imposition was a significant predictor of sexual coercion victimization for both genders.

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