Bystander Reactions and Social Support of Sexual Assault Victims

6 INTRODUCTION.7 Sexual Assault on College Campuses . 7 Sexual Assault and Gender.8 Sexual Assault and Emerging Adults.9 Sexual Assault and Substance Abuse in Emerging Adults.11 Beliefs and Myths about Sexual Assault . 12 Reactions to Myths of Sexual Assault.14 Rape Myth Acceptance and Victim-Blaming.15 Factors Influencing Consent.17 Prevention and Education of Sexual Assault.18 Bystander Effect.21 Bystander Effect in Sexual Assault Prevention.23 The Process of Bystander Interventions.24 Adverse Childhood Experiences and Bystanders.25 College Bystander Programs.26 Purpose of the Study.29 Hypotheses.30 METHOD.30 Participants. 30 Measures.31 Bystander Confidence Scale.31 Willingness to Help Scale.31 BYSTANDER REACTIONS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 3 Bystander Behavior Scale . 32 Demographic Questionnaire . 32 Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale.33 Procedure.33 Research Design . 35 RESULTS.35 Demographics.36 Hypothesis 1.36 Pre-Lecture and Post-Lecture Bystander Confidence Hypothesis 2.36 Pre-Lecture and Post-Lecture Willingness to Help Hypothesis 3 . 37 Pre-Lecture and Post-Lecture Bystander Behavior Hypothesis 4.37 Correlation Adverse Childhood Experiences and Willingness to Help Hypothesis 5.38 Correlation Adverse Childhood Experiences and Bystander Confidence DISCUSSION.38 Limitations.41 Future Research.43 Clinical Implications.44 REFERENCES.45 Table 1. Frequency and Percentage for Characteristics.52 Figure 1. Bystander Confidence Scale.53 Figure 2. Willingness to Help Scale.54 BYSTANDER REACTIONS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 4 Figure 3. Bystander Behavior Scale.55 APPENDIX A: Demographic Questionnaire.56 APPENDIX B. Adverse Childhood Experience Scale . 57 APPENDIX C. Bystander Confidence Scale.58 APPENDIX D. Willingness to Help Scale.59 APPENDIX E. Bystander Behavior Scale.60 APPENDIX F. Lecture Transcript and PowerPoint Slides.61 APPENDIX G. Transcript for Video 1.74 APPENDIX H. Transcript for Video 2.75 APPENDIX I. Informed Consent . 82 APPENDIX J: IRB Approval.83 BYSTANDER REACTIONS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 5 Acknowledgement I would like to show appreciation to those who supported me throughout this honors thesis. I express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Thomas Demaria for being my advisor throughout the process of developing my ideas and interest in the field of trauma psychology. With this I am thankful for your valuable guidance and help at the various stages of writing this thesis. The successful completion of this study would not have been possible without your knowledge, patience and understanding. I also wish to express my sincerest thanks to Dr. Nancy Frye for giving your precious time to read my thesis. Your comments and adjustments to this study helped me create a better finished product that I would not have managed without your guidance. To both of you I will be forever grateful for your help in completing a study of my deep interest. To my family and friends, thank you for your unwavering support in this process, but also in other aspects of my life. To my incredible mother I show my deepest gratitude for the unconditional love and support. You have always stressed the importance for me to follow my dreams. I hope I have made you proud, and that I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. BYSTANDER REACTIONS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 6 Abstract Incidents of sexual assault on campuses have been a concern for colleges andIncidents of sexual assault on campuses have been a concern for colleges and universities throughout North America and Europe. Studies estimate a prevalence of 20 to 25 percent of women attending higher education have experienced a completed or attempted sexual assault (Fisher, Cullen & Turner, 2000). The following study examined a unique training program adapted from other bystander training programs for use in classrooms throughout the United States and Europe in educating bystanders about sexual assault prevention (Alegría-Flores, Raker, Pleasants, Weaver & Weinberger, 2015). The purpose of the study was 1) to examine if adverse childhood experiences would predict bystander confidence, behavior and willingness to help and 2) if these behaviors would change based on a an adapted lecture on sexual assault and bystander behavior developed from the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. A survey was administered to 34 students enrolled in a psychology class in the beginning of the academic semester, prior to lecture. The survey was then administered again to assess if enhanced knowledge might have changed the inclinations of bystanders to act in situations to prevent sexual assault. Findings indicate statistically significant changes (p < .05) for bystander confidence for participants at postintervention. There were no statistically significant differences in bystander behavior or willingness to help with or without prior adverse childhood experiences. The current study provides evidence about the efficacy of bystander components in sexual assault programs, which colleges and universities should consider. BYSTANDER REACTIONS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 7 Bystander Reactions and Social Support of Sexual Assault Victims Sexual Assault on College Campuses According to findings collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), there is an increase in sexual violence on college campuses in the United States (Zhang, Musu-Gillette & Oudekerk, 2016). In fact, there was a 126 percent increase in forcible sex crimes between 2001 and 2013, with 2,200 reported cases in 2001 and 5,000 reported cases in 2013. These alarming numbers significantly increased, as there were 1,000 more reported forcible sex crimes on-campuses in 2013 than in 2012 (Zhang et al., 2016). Studies of sexual assault victims are often done by addressing college populations, as this group of emerging adults are the ones with the highest rate of sexual assault victimizations (Sinozich & Langton, 2014). Females in other age brackets seem to be less likely to experience fewer sexual assaults than women ages 18 to 24. It is unclear whether rates of sexual assault are changing over time. According to Sinozich and Langtong (2014), there was no significant difference in rates of victimization for women in college from 1997 to 2013. This is in contrast to the findings of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) which saw a 126 percent increase from 2001 to 2013 with reported incidents (2016). This discrepancy can be due to differences in sample size, populations targeted and how the term victimization is emphasized in the two reports. However, both findings indicate that females are more often the victims of sexual assault than males. Interventions have tried to stop the violent and harmful behavior of sexual violence and assault from taking place; however, they often fall short for a number of possible reasons. For instance, interventions have a tendency to focus on addressing only the victim in potential sexual assault situations. A promising strategy that has been looked at is addressing three possible groups: the potential assailant, the potential victim, BYSTANDER REACTIONS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 8 and the potential bystanders. Bystanders in potential sexual assault situations may be an often-overlooked group in interventions (Banyard, Plante & Moynihan, 2004). The following sections will address the incidents of sexual assault on campuses, behaviors of emerging adults, beliefs about sexual assault in emerging adults, sexual assault prevention programs, bystander research, bystanders and sexual assault, and lastly bystander interventions. Sexual Assault and Gender The term “sexual assault” includes victimization of both males and females in term