Alcohol Use, Sexual Assault Severity, and Bystander Opportunities and Behaviors Among College Students

Bystander intervention skills training is a leading sexual assault prevention strategy aimed at increasing an individual's ability to discern when someone is at risk for harm and increase their willingness and ability to safely intervene. Minimal research has considered the association of alcohol use and sexual assault victimization history on identifying bystander intervention opportunities (events when someone can intervene to prevent harm) and engaging in bystander behaviors (events when someone intervenes to prevent harm). We explored the interactions between alcohol use and sexual assault victimization history on bystander intervention opportunity and behaviors for risky situations and party safety. Students (N = 2,160) from two minority-serving universities reported on their demographic information, number of alcoholic beverages consumed weekly, sexual assault severity, and bystander intervention opportunities and behaviors for risky situations and party safety. Negative binomial regression analyses were conducted and indicated that there were significant positive main effects of both alcohol use and sexual assault severity for bystander opportunities and behaviors in risky situations. In addition, there was a significant interaction between alcohol use and sexual assault severity for bystander opportunities and behaviors for party safety, such that the association between alcohol use and bystander opportunity and behavior for party safety was stronger among participants who reported lower sexual assault severity than for participants who reported higher sexual assault severity. Findings enhance the understanding of alcohol use and sexual assault victimization on bystander intervention opportunities and behaviors, highlighting potential areas to refine for prevention interventions.