Sexual Consent at First-Time Intercourse: Retrospective Reports from University Students in Canada and the United States.

Objectives: We investigated whether the context of first-time intercourse (FTI) was associated with internal consent feelings and external consent communication at FTI.

Method: College students ( = 1020) from universities in Canada and the United States retrospectively reported on their FTI.

Results: Using structural equation modeling, we found that the context of participants' FTI (e.g. age, contraceptive use) predicted their internal consent, which in turn predicted their external consent communication.

Conclusions: Sexual health education should highlight these contextual correlates of sexual consent at FTI. Despite the cultural primacy of FTI, consent should also be prioritized for other early sexual experiences.