Sipping and Sexing Safely: College student experiences, norms, and outcomes of bystander intervention across alcohol-involved sexual contexts

Candidate Name: Jasmine Temple
Program: Health Psychology, Community Concentration
Committee Chairs: Erika Montanaro
Committee Members: Annelise Mennicke, Jessamyn Moxie, Katie Edwards
Abstract:

Alcohol is involved in many incidents of campus sexual violence, yet research often treats alcohol-involved sexual situations as a single phenomenon, overlooking distinctions that may shape bystander decision-making. This dissertation used three mixed-methods studies to examine bystander intervention across sex while drinking (SWD), alcohol-related sexual assault (ARSA), and alcohol-facilitated sexual assault (AFSA). Study 1 qualitatively explored bystander experiences and found that participants themselves distinguished among SWD, ARSA, and AFSA, identifying context-specific opportunities, barriers, and facilitators to intervention. Building on these emergent distinctions, Study 2 examined social norms across contexts and found greater acceptance of SWD and lower reported likelihood of intervention in SWD scenarios compared with ARSA and AFSA. Study 3 used an experimental vignette design and path analysis to examine contextual, individual, and norm-related factors across stages of bystander decision-making. Participants perceived greater risk in ARSA and AFSA than SWD, while responsibility to intervene emerged as the strongest predictor of action. Collectively, findings demonstrate that bystander intervention varies meaningfully across alcohol-involved sexual contexts and underscore the need for theory, measurement, and prevention strategies that better reflect the complexity of students’ experiences.