Who sees opportunity to help? A prospective study on adolescents’ detection of intervention opportunities in situations of sexual and dating violence

Self Cite

Peer sexual violence is a significant social problem that affects adolescents and can lead to negative mental health and developmental consequences. Peers are a significant source of influence for adolescent behavior. For example, recent studies show training teens to be bystanders can be an effective prevention strategy to reduce peer violence and harassment. Peers can also promote risky behaviors including substance use and violence. The current study examined how sexual violence-specific risk and protective attitudes (e.g., denial of peer sexual violence and positive peer prevention norms) and behaviors (alcohol use and bystander actions to prevent peer sexual violence) clustered within peer networks cross-sectionally and over time. Participants were 1,499 7th−10th graders who took surveys during an academic year and who reported having opportunity to take action as bystanders to peer sexual violence. Participants took surveys 6 months apart online in schools. Questions included nomination of best friends to capture information about peer networks. Social network analyses indicated that there was weak but significant clustering of positive prevention attitudes such as bystander denial and marginal clustering on reactive bystander behaviors to address sexual assault. For comparison, alcohol use and academic grades were analyzed and found to also cluster in networks in these data. These findings suggest that for early adolescents, peer bystander training may be influential for some key bystander attitudes and reactive sexual violence prevention behaviors as individual behaviors are not independent of those of their friends.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent Peers and Prevention: Network Patterns of Sexual Violence Attitudes and Bystander Actions

Banyard

Waterman

Edwards

et al. 2021

Self Cite

“…Results of one recent study showed variation in bystander intervention across gender and sexual minority identifying participants and that gender- and sexual-minority participants reported more opportunities to intervene (Hoxmeier, Mennicke, et al, 2020) compared to cisgender and heterosexual participants. Another recent study found that sexual minority girls detected more intervention opportunities than did boys or sexual majority girls (Waterman et al, 2020). Future research in these populations is necessary to replicate these findings and additionally examine potential differences in attitudes, subjective norms, PBC, and behavioral intention regarding bystander intervention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Theory of Planned Behavior & Bystander Intention: Differences Based on Gender and Heavy Episodic Drinking

John

Hoxmeier

Brown

2022

Research indicates that people who engage in heavy episodic drinking (HED) report less intention to intervene and intervention behavior to prevent sexual violence. Researchers have also found gender differences across bystander intention, bystander confidence, and intervention behavior. However, research in this area could benefit from use of an evidence-based health behavior theory. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) posits that personal attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) predict behavioral intention. Substantial evidence supports the utility of the TPB for predicting behavioral intention in a variety of health-related behaviors, yet few researchers have applied this theory when predicting bystander intention to prevent sexual violence. Undergraduate students ( N = 395) from a southern university (77% female; 70% White, Non-Hispanic) completed a modified Sexual Assault Bystander Behavior Questionnaire and the Daily Drinking Questionnaire. Our findings did not reveal significant differences in attitudes, subjective norms, PBC, nor intention based on HED; however, there were significant differences based on gender, with women indicating more positive attitudes and supportive subjective norms regarding bystander intervention. Multiple regression analysis indicated that theoretical antecedents of intention positively predicted bystander intention, however, the relations were not moderated by prior engagement in HED. These findings support the utility of the TPB for predicting bystander intention to intervene; however, they do not support previous research examining how HED influences bystanders’ intention to engage in prosocial actions.

“…It is important to recognize also that our findings only apply to those who reported having at least one opportunity in the past 12 months to intervene across all of the BI items. We do not know why some students had an opportunity to engage in one or more of the bystander behaviors and others did not—although the individual’s lifestyle routine activities likely shape those opportunities (Waterman et al, 2020). It is also possible that some students did have an opportunity to intervene but did not perceive the situation as necessitating intervention for a number of reasons, such as attitudes toward the potential victim or perpetrator (see, e.g., Butler et al, 2017; Pugh et al, 2016; Waterman et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Application of Bystander Intervention Scripts: Implications for Guardianship in Action

Butler

Graham

Fisher

2022

Responding to high rates of interpersonal victimization and perpetration among adolescents, schools have implemented bystander intervention (BI) training to educate students to intervene to prevent or stop violence. These trainings function much like an application of scripts for guardianship in action. The current study builds on the overlapping and complementary bodies of BI and routine activities research by testing whether participation in BI training, namely Green Dot (GD), influences individuals’ underlying ability to intervene. Using four years of survey data collected from high school students ( N = 2,374–3,443), we use item response theory to model the difficulty of engaging in different BI behaviors. We then estimate multivariate ordinary least squares regression models, one for each year, to estimate the effect of GD training on students’ ability to intervene. The item response theory results show that BI behaviors differ in terms of how “difficult” they are for respondents to engage in. Findings show that in each year, GD training increased students’ underlying ability to intervene. Our findings suggest BI training and guardianship in action scripts should take into account this varying difficulty of intervention behaviors to best train individuals for successful intervention to prevent victimization.