Effects of Acute Alcohol Intoxication on Bystander Decision Making and Intervention Behavior for Sexual Violence

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of this application is to advance a programmatic line of research by conducting a laboratory-based study that will examine the role of acute alcohol intoxication and an evidence-based situational factor (i.e., social norms) on sexual violence (SV) intervention and perceived barriers to intervention. Importantly, the proposed project will be the first to examine the acute effects of alcohol on event-based bystander intervention. Ultimately, this project will serve as the foundation for the PI's career i academia as an independent research scientist. The impetus for the proposed project is to address a critical gap in the scientific evidence base for bystander intervention programming. The bystander effect is a well-studied phenomenon in which the presence of others inhibits helping behavior; however, application of this research to SV is still in its infancy. Extant research estimates at least 50% of sexual assaults involve alcohol use (for a review, see Abbey, 2002), yet there is not a single published study that examines the acute effects of alcohol on SV intervention. Addressing the role of alcohol is necessary to build an evidence base from which we can develop or modify programs to teach bystanders in drinking contexts how to intervene in SV. As such, the proposed laboratory-based study seeks to investigate the following specific aims: (1) test the interactive effects of alcohol intoxication and evidenced-based situational-predictors (i.e., audience norms) on the likelihood and speed of bystander intervention for SV, and (2) examine perceived barriers for intervention among individuals who do not intervene. To address these aims, 235 self-identified heterosexual, drinking men will present to the laboratory. During Session 1, participants' eligibility will be verified, and they will complete several self-report questionnaires. During Session 2, participants will be randomly assigned to consume an alcoholic (target BrAC of .08%) or no-alcohol control beverage. Participants and four other ostensibly intoxicated confederates will watch an intoxicated female confederate, who reports a strong dislike of sexual content in the media, view a sexually explicit film which they can stop at any time. Prior to watching the female view the film, participants will be randomly assigned to a social-norms audience manipulation wherein one male confederate will set the group norm to reflect prosocial or ambiguous norms regarding intervention behavior. Bystander intervention is operationalized as whether the participant stops the video and the time in seconds it takes the participant to stop the video. Findings will make a critical, formative contribution toward the evidence base upon which existing programming efforts can draw from to enhance bystanders' skills in alcohol-related contexts. Further, conduction of this project will provide the foundation for the PI's future work in developing larger scale studies that will more closely examine mechanisms of alcohol-related bystander intervention (e.g., gender).