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Research & education

Evidence first. Then programs. Then scale.

PASS Worldwide funds, publishes, and partners on research that illuminates how people actually think, talk, and feel about consent — and we translate that evidence into programs that schools, administrators, and families can use.

Why we research this

The national context our work is built on.

Our programs and publications are informed by public-health and higher-education data. A full statistics overview lives on the Why page; these are the figures most directly shaping our research agenda.

Lifetime contact sexual violenceCDC
~1 in 2 women · >1 in 6 men

Contact sexual violence affects a staggering share of the U.S. population across every demographic line.

On U.S. college campusesAAU
26.4%
Undergraduate women report nonconsensual sexual contact since enrollment — unchanged between 2015 and 2019.
Annual U.S. victims (age 12+)RAINN
443,635
people age 12+ experience sexual violence annually in the U.S.

For the full statistics section with additional figures, see Why sexual safety matters.

Flagship study

The Climate of Consent

In partnership with HumanDot+, PASS Worldwide conducted a large-scale qualitative analysis of public online conversations — spanning forums, social platforms, and educational communities — to understand how students, parents, and administrators talk about consent today.

Rather than rely on a single survey, we analyzed thousands of unprompted exchanges to capture the nuances that surveys miss: anxieties, blind spots, and the words people reach for when no one is watching. The result is a portrait of where consent culture actually is — not where we'd like it to be.

What the study reveals

  • Students broadly support affirmative consent, but feel under-equipped to practice it.
  • Parents often defer to schools; schools often defer to parents. Neither group realizes the other is waiting.
  • Administrators want better tools — but mistrust off-the-shelf curricula that don't reflect student experience.
  • Conversations about consent frequently collide with conversations about alcohol, identity, and social pressure.

What we recommend

Our recommendations focus on evidence-based curricula, bridging the adult-student communication gap, and reinforcing classroom learning with practical tools that students already trust.

Open the full PDF

Direct report link: Climate of Consent — Sexual Consent Report (PDF)

PASS Worldwide × HumanDot+
The Climate
of Consent
A national analysis of public discourse on consent in U.S. schools & communities
Published 2025 · 48 pages · Open access
Education programs

From research to the classroom.

Our research informs programs that work in real schools, with real students, under real constraints.

Consent Foundations

A core workshop series for colleges and high schools, covering affirmative consent, coercion, alcohol, and bystander intervention.

Admin & Parent Toolkit

Plain-language guides and conversation starters for the adults who set the tone in students' lives.

Peer Educator Track

Training for student leaders who become the most credible voices on their own campuses.

Community Workshops

Evening and weekend programs for community centers, athletic organizations, and faith groups.

Research Fellowships

Small grants for graduate researchers studying consent attitudes, behaviors, and interventions.

Partner with PASS Worldwide

Bring our programs — or our data — to your institution.

We work with schools, universities, community organizations, and researchers. If your institution is serious about consent education, we're serious about supporting you.

Start a conversation
  • Curriculum licensing — bring Consent Foundations to your campus.
  • Research collaboration — co-author the next study with us.
  • Community grants — apply for support to run programming aligned with PASS Worldwide.
  • Speaker requests — invite our team to your next convening.