<p>People under the age of consent still lack the mental ability to give informed consent. but the age of consent varies across countries and states from puberty in Yemen to 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 ( France, UK, Ireland, Tunisia).</p>
<p>can the mental ability to give consent be scientifically defined / measured /approximated?
if yes, at what age are 95% of people mentally able to give consent? or more ideally what's the percentage of people mentally able to give consent in function of age.( does it follow an S-curve? )</p>
<p>Does that age vary across cultures / countries / education systems?</p>
<p>** ( of course, other factors come into play in determining the  legal age of consent like the economical dependence of teens and tradition) but if less than 95% of people of certain age are unable to consent, one might argue that, that age is too low.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T17:06:30.167Z
How would you define "mentally able to give consent"?
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T17:42:45.607Z
I don't know, that's why I said "if yes".  an expert would better suited to define that. (doesn't a definition already exist?).  Maybe through a questionnaire that tests  knowledge of what sex is, the consequences of sex, ability to identify sexual manipulation/rape/sexual assault, STIs and means of protection.
Alister Holden
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T17:56:22.650Z
this article sheds some light into the question: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/discussing-and-assessing-capacity-sexual-consent   and points to Lyden M. Assessment of sexual consent capacity. Sexual Disabil. 2007;25:3-20.
Alister Holden
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T18:00:52.183Z
Age of consent to what? Consent to medical treatment can be different depending on the treatment and other factors. (Google "Gillick Competence" and "Fraser Guidelines" for more information).
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T18:08:58.193Z
As for consent to sex and the psychiatric times article, for Dr Lyden to say *"Having capacity means that you have the knowledge about sex and the ability to understand **proper sexual behaviour**"* can be seen to be loaded with opinion and open to bias.
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T18:24:16.267Z
I meant "age of consent" as in sex. You are right even having a working definition seems to be a throny issue, thanks. so have there been no studies that measured  sexual consent capacity across age? if there was, I'd be satisfied with the definition that they chose in order to run the study. if there was not, than I'm not getting an answer anyway.
Alister Holden
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-03T21:01:18.297Z
I think it's clear from the cultural range of legal ages (and various modifications that include both allowing legal consent among similarly-aged individuals otherwise below the statutory age of consent, and also making sex illegal when it occurs between adults who are unmarried, of the same sex, etc) that there is no agreed upon definition. I think you are asking the question the wrong way: rather than asking about the age of consent, it would be more productive to instead consider the feature which you consider to demonstrate ability to consent, and studying that feature with age.
Bryan Krause
<social-psychology>
At what age are 95% of people mentally able to give consent?
Alister Holden
# At what age are 95% of people mentally able to give consent?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-03)

People under the age of consent still lack the mental ability to give informed consent. but the age of consent varies across countries and states from puberty in Yemen to 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 ( France, UK, Ireland, Tunisia).

can the mental ability to give consent be scientifically defined / measured /approximated?
if yes, at what age are 95% of people mentally able to give consent? or more ideally what's the percentage of people mentally able to give consent in function of age.( does it follow an S-curve? )

Does that age vary across cultures / countries / education systems?

\*\* ( of course, other factors come into play in determining the legal age of consent like the economical dependence of teens and tradition) but if less than 95% of people of certain age are unable to consent, one might argue that, that age is too low.

**Tags:** social-psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: How would you define "mentally able to give consent"?  
> **username_0**: I don't know, that's why I said "if yes".  an expert would better suited to define that. (doesn't a definition already exist?).  Maybe through a questionnaire that tests  knowledge of what sex is, the consequences of sex, ability to identify sexual manipulation/rape/sexual assault, STIs and means of protection.  
> **username_0**: this article sheds some light into the question: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/discussing-and-assessing-capacity-sexual-consent   and points to Lyden M. Assessment of sexual consent capacity. Sexual Disabil. 2007;25:3-20.  
> **username_2**: Age of consent to what? Consent to medical treatment can be different depending on the treatment and other factors. (Google "Gillick Competence" and "Fraser Guidelines" for more information).  
> **username_2**: As for consent to sex and the psychiatric times article, for Dr Lyden to say *"Having capacity means that you have the knowledge about sex and the ability to understand **proper sexual behaviour**"* can be seen to be loaded with opinion and open to bias.  
> **username_0**: I meant "age of consent" as in sex. You are right even having a working definition seems to be a throny issue, thanks. so have there been no studies that measured  sexual consent capacity across age? if there was, I'd be satisfied with the definition that they chose in order to run the study. if there was not, than I'm not getting an answer anyway.  
> **username_1**: I think it's clear from the cultural range of legal ages (and various modifications that include both allowing legal consent among similarly-aged individuals otherwise below the statutory age of consent, and also making sex illegal when it occurs between adults who are unmarried, of the same sex, etc) that there is no agreed upon definition. I think you are asking the question the wrong way: rather than asking about the age of consent, it would be more productive to instead consider the feature which you consider to demonstrate ability to consent, and studying that feature with age.  

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