Attitudes Toward Sexual and Digital Consent and Institutional Distrust as Determinants of Gender-Based Violence Prevention: Evidence from an Urban Adult Population
Esperanza García Uceda, D. Errazu, Jesús-C. Aguerri • International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health • 2026
Attitudes toward sexual consent and digital sexual consent are strongly and positively associated, gender is the most consistent sociodemographic correlate of attitudinal differences, and institutional reluctance is systematically related to less supportive consent attitudes across all measures.
Key Findings
Results
Attitudes toward offline sexual consent and digital sexual consent were strongly and positively associated.
The study used a cross-sectional online survey embedded in the evaluation of a municipal consent campaign in Zaragoza, Spain
Adults (N = 404; 56.7% women) completed measures of both sexual consent and digital sexual consent
The strong positive association supports treating offline and digital consent as a continuum rather than separate domains
Correlation and multiple regression models with robust standard errors were estimated
Results
Gender was the most consistent sociodemographic correlate of consent attitudes, with men showing less egalitarian attitudes than women across all consent measurements.
The sample was N = 404 adults, 56.7% women
Men showed less egalitarian attitudes than women across all consent measurements, including both sexual and digital consent
Gender was described as 'the most consistent sociodemographic correlate' of attitudinal differences
Models controlled for age, education, income, relationship status, and social media use
Results
Institutional reluctance was systematically associated with less supportive attitudes toward both sexual and digital consent.
Institutional reluctance was measured with three items: perceived 'sermonizing' tone, distrust in effectiveness, and lack of personal identification with the message
Perceiving institutional messages as exaggerated or personally irrelevant predicted lower support for sexual and digital consent norms
Trust in the campaign's effectiveness was associated with more egalitarian attitudes
Institutional reluctance was described as 'systematically related to less supportive consent attitudes' across all consent measures
Methods
The study used a 14-item short version of the Sexual Consent Scale–Revised along with two items specifically measuring digital sexual consent.
The Sexual Consent Scale–Revised (short version) consisted of 14 items
Digital sexual consent was assessed with two dedicated items
Institutional reluctance was assessed with three items
The survey was embedded in the evaluation of a municipal consent campaign in Zaragoza, Spain
Conclusions
The findings support prevention policies explicitly incorporating digital consent into affective-sexual education and primary prevention strategies for sexual violence.
Results suggest that 'prevention policies and campaigns should explicitly incorporate digital consent into affective-sexual education and primary prevention strategies for sexual violence'
The digitalization of intimate relationships has expanded the risks of consent violation
The continuity between sexual and digital consent supports an integrated rather than separate prevention approach
Findings also suggest institutional interventions may benefit from participatory approaches and avoiding moralizing tones
Results
The study found that perceiving institutional messages as having a 'sermonizing' or moralizing tone was associated with less supportive attitudes toward consent norms.
One of the three institutional reluctance items specifically captured perceived 'sermonizing' tone
This perception of exaggerated or personally irrelevant messaging predicted lower support for both sexual and digital consent
The authors recommend that campaigns should minimize 'defensive reactions' and rebuild public trust
The findings suggest co-designing campaigns with the target population to improve message reception
What This Means
This research surveyed 404 adults in Zaragoza, Spain, to understand how people's attitudes about sexual consent relate to their attitudes about digital consent (such as consent around sharing intimate images or messages online), and how feelings of distrust toward public awareness campaigns affect those attitudes. Participants answered questions about consent in face-to-face situations, consent in digital contexts, and whether they found public consent campaigns to be preachy, ineffective, or personally irrelevant. The study found that people's attitudes about traditional sexual consent and digital consent were closely linked — those who held more egalitarian views in one domain tended to hold more egalitarian views in the other. Men consistently showed less egalitarian attitudes than women across all measures, making gender the strongest demographic factor in the study.
A particularly notable finding was that skepticism or distrust toward institutional consent campaigns was consistently associated with less supportive attitudes about consent overall. Specifically, people who felt that public campaigns were exaggerating the issue, were ineffective, or didn't feel personally relevant to them also tended to hold less egalitarian views about both sexual and digital consent. Conversely, people who trusted that campaigns were effective tended to hold more supportive attitudes toward consent norms.
This research suggests that public health efforts to prevent gender-based violence should treat digital and in-person consent as part of the same issue rather than addressing them separately. It also suggests that how prevention messages are delivered matters significantly — campaigns perceived as preachy or disconnected from people's lives may actually be associated with the attitudes they are trying to change. The findings point toward designing prevention programs collaboratively with communities, using approaches that feel relevant and trustworthy rather than moralistic, and ensuring that digital consent is explicitly included in sexual education curricula.
Esperanza García Uceda, D. Errazu, Jesús-C. Aguerri. (2026). Attitudes Toward Sexual and Digital Consent and Institutional Distrust as Determinants of Gender-Based Violence Prevention: Evidence from an Urban Adult Population. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph23040480