Barriers to Bystander Interventions for Sexual Assault: Impact of Personal History of Sexual Victimization

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110234
Author(s):  
Tylor Kistler ◽  
Gregory L. Stuart ◽  
Tara L. Cornelius
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Sexual Victimization ◽  
Bystander Intervention ◽  
Personal History ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Actual Intervention ◽  
Bystander Behaviors

Bystander intervention programs have consistently demonstrated a positive change in communitywide norms regarding sexual assault. However, much of the extant research is limited by the failure to measure the prevalence of opportunities to intervene relative to actual intervention behavior and the failure to examine how bystander behaviors may be affected by a personal history of sexual victimization. The current study aims to determine the relationship between a bystander’s previous history of sexual victimization, perceived barriers to intervention, observed opportunities to intervene, and actual intervention behavior in a range of high-risk, low-risk, and post-assault bystander opportunities in undergraduate students. Male and female undergraduate students ( N = 591) completed retrospective measures of their opportunities for and intervention in a range of bystander behaviors and perceived barriers to intervention. They also reported on their personal history of sexual victimization. The results indicated that those with a history of sexual victimization tended to perceive greater barriers to intervention than those without such history. Notably, individuals with a victimization history reported that they were less likely to notice a risky situation and to identify the situation as dangerous. However, noticing or intervening did not vary across different types of bystander intervention situations. In terms of gender differences, although men reported perceiving greater barriers due to the diffusion of responsibility and fewer barriers related to audience inhibition and skill deficits when compared to women, there were no significant gender differences in intervention behavior. Data were situated within current empirical and theoretical models of sexual and intimate partner violence, and implications of these findings for bystander intervention programs and directions for future research are discussed.

“Is It My Responsibility?”: A Qualitative Review of University Students’ Perspectives on Bystander Behavior

2020 ◽  
pp. 152483802093382
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Robinson ◽  
Abdel Casiano ◽  
Nada Elias-Lambert
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Bystander Intervention ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
Bystander Behavior ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Facilitators And Barriers ◽  
The Impact

Bystander interventions focus on framing violence as a community problem and encourage all community members to act as prosocial bystanders if they witness a dangerous situation. Research has demonstrated there are multiple barriers and facilitators that might discourage or encourage an individual to act as a prosocial bystander. A qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis (QIMS) of existing literature was conducted to determine university students’ perspectives on bystander facilitators and barriers. A systematic search of the literature was completed to identify articles that included university students’ perspectives on bystander facilitators and barriers, utilized a qualitative methodology, and contained participant quotations in the published article. The search yielded 181 articles and after screening 10 articles were included in the QIMS. The original themes and participant quotations were qualitatively coded to develop five new themes: (1) the impact of alcohol, (2) beliefs about responsibility, (3) peer perceptions, (4) indicators and situational dilemmas, and (5) the role of friendship and group impact. The results of this synthesis reveal important implications for the continued development of bystander intervention programs for universities. By incorporating the perspectives of university students, bystander intervention programs may be more effective at encouraging students to be prosocial bystanders by confronting perceived barriers to intervention.

Who, When, How, and Why Bystanders Intervene in Physical and Psychological Teen Dating Violence

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina J. Debnam ◽  
Victoria Mauer
Keyword(s):  
Dating Violence ◽  
Teen Dating Violence ◽  
Bystander Intervention ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Physical Health Problems ◽  
Teen Dating ◽  
Survey Designs ◽  
Mental And Physical Health ◽  
Bystander Behaviors

Teen dating violence victimization is associated with a host of adverse mental and physical health problems. A number of bystander-focused interventions have been developed to mitigate the occurrence of abuse but with varying effectiveness. There remains a need to understand more about bystander behaviors used by adolescents to ensure that existing intervention components match with bystanders’ attitudes and behaviors about intervening. The current study is a scoping review of existing literature on adolescents’ use of bystander behaviors to determine who, when, how, and why adolescents intervene. Seventeen articles met inclusion criteria, the majority of which used qualitative or observational survey designs. Adolescents who either feel a sense of responsibility and confidence to intervene or are directly involved with or know the individuals involved in the dating violence are more likely to intervene. Adolescents intervene when they are able to define an act as dating violence and tend to intervene when the victim is female and when they have a supportive relationship with at least one teacher in their school. The various ways how bystander intervention is engaged in ranges from verbally or physically confronting the abuser, distracting the abuser, seeking support from an adult, to passively accepting the abuse. Reasons why adolescents intervene include believing the abuse is wrong and that intervening will diffuse the situation and help the victim. A number of barriers to bystander intervention emerged from analysis including individual attitudes and school climate factors. Implications for strengthening bystander intervention programs are discussed.

Out of the Whirlwind Reconsidered

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Michael Berkowitz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Personal History ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Holocaust Literature ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mutual Accountability ◽  
Union College

This article argues that Albert Friedlander’s edited book, Out of the Whirlwind (1968), should be recognised as pathbreaking. Among the first to articulate the idea of ‘Holocaust literature’, it established a body of texts and contextualised these as a way to integrate literature – as well as historical writing, music, art and poetry – as critical to an understanding of the Holocaust. This article also situates Out of the Whirlwind through the personal history of Friedlander and his wife Evelyn, who was a co-creator of the book, his colleagues from Hebrew Union College, and the illustrator, Jacob Landau. It explores the work’s connection to the expansive, humanistic development of progressive Judaism in the United States, Britain and continental Europe. It also underscores Friedlander’s study of Leo Baeck as a means to understand the importance of mutual accountability, not only between Jews, but in Jews’ engagement with the wider world.

An Examination of Perceived Barriers to Mentoring in Public Accounting

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Kaplan ◽  
Annemarie K. Keinath ◽  
Judith C. Walo
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Peer Relationships ◽  
The Other ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Mentoring Relationships ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Big 5 ◽  
Local Firm

While both mentoring and peer relationships exist among some auditors in public accounting, little is known about these relationships. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on perceived barriers to mentoring and peer relationships in public accounting. Analysis of responses indicated three interpretable factors representing barriers to forming mentoring relationships. First, participants without a mentor perceived greater barriers from access to mentors and from willingness of the mentor. Gender differences were significant in all three factors. Partners perceived barriers from access to mentors to be lower than those perceived by the other ranks. Finally, willingness of the mentor was perceived to be a greater barrier by local firm participants than by intermediate or Big 5 firm participants.

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