A new study from the nonprofit initiative It’s On Us recommends changes to sex education for boys, to help better prevent sexual assaults when they get to college.

“A few years ago, we decided to look into what research was available on how to support young men in the prevention of campus sexual violence. And when we started to look at the field of research, we actually found a pretty large gap in what was available,” Tracey Vitchers, the program’s executive director, told WTOP.

“The majority of research related to campus sexual violence and men pretty much focuses on their role as perpetrators of sexual violence, rather than what are those factors that would contribute to them helping to create a culture of consent,” she added.

As a result, It’s On Us launched a series of studies by surveying young men.

The newest report, which is informed by earlier ones, found Black men in college were more likely than those of other races to be educated about sex and positive intimate relationships because of talks they have with family and friends in their community.

“Because they had these really helpful conversations about the importance of consent from a very young age, they were just more aware of the topic of consent, how to have healthy relationships, how to have healthy communication in relationships, how to fight fair, and things of that nature that are really important, compared to other men in the sample,” Vitchers said.

The survey also found men in the LGBTQ+ community in college tend to go to medically accurate online sources for information about sex, relationships and consent such as the Cleveland Clinic and Planned Parenthood, while straight men are more likely to turn to social media sites like TikTok and Reddit.

The report recommends that all boys receive age-appropriate sex education earlier in life, and that education should be more comprehensive than what most received in the past.

“That content really needs to be expanded to include topics related to consent, communication, healthy conflict and gender norms,” Vitchers said.

The report also calls for enhanced media literacy education for boys and young men because so many are turning to the media — especially social media — for guidance.

“It’s really important to teach young men literacy skills to help critically analyze content and how it can impact their own perspectives,” Vitchers said.