Biphasic Effects of Acute Alcohol Intoxication on Bystander Intervention for Sexual Violence

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PROJECT ABSTRACT Sexual violence victimization is a serious public health problem resulting in significant mental and physical health consequences and a financial burden of $3.1 trillion over the course of survivors' lifetimes, of which the government is estimated to pay $1 trillion. Alcohol is involved in over half of sexual assaults; however, bystander training programs do not yet target bystander alcohol intoxication, likely due to the dearth of evidence on how alcohol intoxication impacts sexual violence intervention. Indeed, only two published studies have assessed the role of bystander alcohol intoxication on sexual violence intervention. Towards this end, the impetus for the proposed project is to address four critical gaps in the current scientific evidence base: (1) research on intoxicated bystanders is limited to high levels of intoxication (target blood alcohol concentration [BAC] = .10%) on the ascending limb of the BAC curve where both activating and sedating effects are prominent and decrease intervention; (2) gender differences have not been examined among intoxicated bystanders; (3) research has only assessed the effects of alcohol on direct bystander intervention methods despite a range of in-the-moment methods bystanders can employ; and (4) it is unclear how alcohol intoxication may interact with modifiable individual-level predictors (e.g., prosocial bystander attitudes) targeted in bystander training programs. Understanding among whom and when alcohol is most likely to impact barriers and intervention will allow bystander training programs to target the window of greatest risk for bystander inaction and integrate alcohol use content that minimizes the negative effects of alcohol that decrease sexual violence intervention. As such, the proposed laboratory-based study seeks to test the independent (Aim 1) and interactive (Aim 2) effects of alcohol, gender, and modifiable bystander attitudes on bystander barriers and sexual violence intervention. To address these aims, 192 social drinking young adults (ages 21-30) will present to the laboratory. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two beverage conditions (alcohol with target BAC of .08% or control beverage). They will then be assigned to one of two BAC limb conditions (ascending or descending limb). Upon reaching .055% BrAC (ascending limb condition), two consecutive descending BAC limb (descending limb condition), or a yoked wait time (sober condition for both ascending and descending limb), participants will project themselves into a heat-of-the moment risky sexual violence scenario depicting a high-risk, sexually violent situation. Using the articulated thoughts in simulated situations think-aloud paradigm, bystander barriers and intervention intentions will be assessed during the situation. 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 by targeting the window of greatest risk for bystander inaction.