Barriers to Bystander Interventions for Sexual Assault: Impact of Personal History of Sexual Victimization.

Bystander intervention programs have consistently demonstrated a positive change in communitywide norms regarding sexual assault. However, much of the extant research is limited by the failure to measure the prevalence of opportunities to intervene relative to actual intervention behavior and the failure to examine how bystander behaviors may be affected by a personal history of sexual victimization. The current study aims to determine the relationship between a bystander's previous history of sexual victimization, perceived barriers to intervention, observed opportunities to intervene, and actual intervention behavior in a range of high-risk, low-risk, and post-assault bystander opportunities in undergraduate students. Male and female undergraduate students (N = 591) completed retrospective measures of their opportunities for and intervention in a range of bystander behaviors and perceived barriers to intervention. They also reported on their personal history of sexual victimization. The results indicated that those with a history of sexual victimization tended to perceive greater barriers to intervention than those without such history. Notably, individuals with a victimization history reported that they were less likely to notice a risky situation and to identify the situation as dangerous. However, noticing or intervening did not vary across different types of bystander intervention situations. In terms of gender differences, although men reported perceiving greater barriers due to the diffusion of responsibility and fewer barriers related to audience inhibition and skill deficits when compared to women, there were no significant gender differences in intervention behavior. Data were situated within current empirical and theoretical models of sexual and intimate partner violence, and implications of these findings for bystander intervention programs and directions for future research are discussed.

Bystander Intervention Behavior as Function of Victimization History, Opportunity, and Situational Context.

Preliminary research has demonstrated the utility of bystander interventions in reducing sexual assault, and initial research has begun extending this type of intervention to intimate partner violence more broadly. However, the extant research is limited by methodological issues that fail to examine opportunity for intervention relative to intervention behaviors as well as a failure to examine intervention rates across differing risk situations. Further, there are many unexplored factors that may impact bystander intervention behavior, notably previous experiences with intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Thus, the current study examined bystander opportunities and intervention across situations of varying risk to the bystander, as well as the relationship of opportunity/intervention relative to victimization history. Given the rates of sexual assault and IPV on college and university campuses, the research examined the number of times college students (N = 393) encountered a range of situations in which bystander intervention may be indicated, and their intervention behavior across varying risk levels to the bystander. Results demonstrated that individuals with a history of psychological victimization were more likely to intervene across all situation types, but sexual and physical victimization provided mixed support for hypotheses. No differences in witnessing or intervening were found as a function of gender. These results replicate previous findings, and further provide evidence for a more nuanced approach to examine bystander behavior intervention. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Consensual Sexting among College Students: The Interplay of Coercion and Intimate Partner Aggression in Perceived Consequences of Sexting.

Recent empirical data suggests that the majority of adolescents and emerging adults utilize digital technology to engage with texting and social media on a daily basis, with many using these mediums to engage in sexting (sending sexual texts, pictures, or videos via digital mediums). While research in the last decade has disproportionately focused on the potential risk factors and negative consequences associated with sexting, the data are limited by failing to differentiate consensual from non-consensual sexting and account for potential influences of intimate partner aggression (IPA) and sexting coercion in these contexts. In the current study, we assessed the positive and negative consequences associated with sexting, using behavioral theory as a framework, to determine the relationship between an individual's personal history of IPA victimization and the perceived consequences. Undergraduate students (N = 536) who reported consensual sexting completed a series of measures examining their most recent sexting experience, including perceived sexting consequences, and their history of sexting coercion and IPA. Results suggested that those reporting a history of any type of IPA victimization endorsed more negative reinforcing consequences after sending a sext, and those with a history of physical or sexual IPA victimization endorsed more punishing consequences after sending a sext than those without such history. Additionally, experience with IPA was found to be positively correlated with perceived pressure/coercion to send a sext. The implications of these data for research, policy, prevention, and intervention are explored.