Students who received abstinence-only sex education before college did not see the same diminished risk.

Students who received sex education before college that included training in refusing unwanted sex were half as likely to be assaulted in college, a new study finds.

In contrast, students who received abstinence-only sex education before college were not shown to have significantly reduced experiences of campus sexual assault – though they also did not show an increased risk.

Those were some of the top-line findings from researchers at Columbia University who examined data from a survey of 2,500 students aged 18 to 29 that was conducted online between March and May 2016 as a part of the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation, a project housed in Columbia’s School of Public Health.

“This study has important implications for policy and further research,” the researchers said. “In the broadest sense, our findings point to the underexplored opportunities for pre-college sexual assault prevention.”

More research is needed on how sex education and skill-building efforts before college can bolster attempts now taking place during college to prevent sexual assault, the researchers said, especially when taking into consideration that sexual assault before college enrollment has consistently been associated with sexual assault in college.

“Importantly, it suggests that sex education promoting refusal skills before college may protect young people in college,” they wrote. “Sexual assault prevention should adopt a lifecourse perspective, including teaching young people before college about healthy and unhealthy sexual relationships and how to say no when sexual interaction is not wanted and yes when it is wanted.”

The researchers also said that colleges should provide sex education, including bystander training and sexual refusal skills, especially for students who haven’t had sex education.

The findings come amid a series of recent headlines involving campus sexual assault.

A Texas judge on Tuesday accepted a plea deal that will spare from jail a former Baylor University student accused of rape, outraging activists still angry over the school’s handling of complaints involving its football team.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has sought to alter Title IX regulations in order to bolster the rights of those accused of sexual assault on college and university campuses. The research also comes amid the #MeToo movement, which has galvanized million of people around the world taking a stand against sexual harassment and sexual assault and prompted reflection among institutions of higher education.

According to the survey analysis, students reported a wide range of exposure to formal sex education: 54 percent received formal education on sex refusal, specifically “how to say no”; 77 percent received education on methods of birth control; 87 percent received education sexually transmitted diseases; and 81 percent received education on HIV/AIDS. Less than 4 percent said they received abstinence-only education.

Overall, 10 percent of reported experiencing sexual assault since starting college. Estimates of sexual assault during college typically range from 1 percent to 8 percent, the researcher noted. Nearly one in five women in the U.S., or about 18 percent, report being exposed to rape – 80 percent of whom experienced their first rape before the age of 25 and 42 percent before age 18.