Dr. Chrystina Y Hoffman

Sexual victimization on college campuses is a widespread issue in the United States (Cantor et al., 2015; Fisher et al., 2000; Koss et al., 1987). Institutions of higher education have attempted to address the issue of sexual violence through various prevention programs, including bystander intervention initiatives (Banyard et al., 2005; Coker et al., 2014; Gidycz et al., 2011). Unfortunately, much of the extant literature on bystander intervention has focused on the relationship between bystander characteristics, group size, group membership, and willingness to intervene. Little is known about how situational characteristics (e.g., victim and offender characteristics) affect a bystander’s likelihood of intervening during sexual violence. It is imperative to understand and investigate the potential impact of incident-specific factors as these variables have the potential to influence the effectiveness of bystander intervention programs because some of these characteristics may be more influential in promoting helping behaviors than others. Using data from a single university located in a large Southern metropolitan city, the present study investigates the impact of location, same sex versus opposite sex dyads for victim and offender, and perceptions of alcohol use on self-reported probability of intervention in an ambiguous sexual scenario. Limitations and policy implications are discussed.