Table 1.
Variations in Prosocial Bystander Intervention Attitudes as a Function of Alcohol Use.
| Non-Heavy Drinkers | Heavy Drinkers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bystander Behavior | M | SD | M | SD | t | p |
| Call 911 and tell the hospital if I suspect that my friend has been drugged. | 4.25 | 0.95 | 4.01 | 1.05 | 1.86 | .06 |
| Call 911 if I hear someone yelling and fighting. | 2.98 | 0.96 | 2.44 | 1.10 | 4.04 | <.001*** |
| Try to get help if I suspect a stranger at a party has been drugged. | 3.73 | 0.97 | 3.44 | 1.15 | 2.11 | .03* |
| Call 911 if I hear someone calling for help. | 4.07 | 0.81 | 3.81 | 0.94 | 2.26 | .03* |
| Go investigate if I am awakened at night by someone calling for help. | 4.19 | 0.82 | 4.39 | 0.82 | −1.88 | .06 |
| Call 911 if my friend needs help. | 4.71 | 0.52 | 4.59 | 0.71 | 1.53 | .12 |
| Talk to the friends of a drunk person to make sure they aren’t left behind. | 3.84 | 1.11 | 3.91 | 1.04 | −0.48 | .63 |
| If I see someone at a party who has had too much to drink, I ask them if they need to be walked home so they can go to sleep. | 3.28 | 1.16 | 3.17 | 1.18 | 0.77 | .44 |
| If my friend said they had an unwanted sexual experience but they don’t call it “rape,” I question them further. | 3.75 | 1.04 | 3.45 | 1.12 | 2.13 | .04* |
| Walk a stranger home from a party who has had too much to drink. | 3.05 | 1.10 | 3.03 | 1.13 | 0.12 | .90 |
| Walk a friend home from a party who has had too much to drink. | 4.62 | 0.64 | 4.48 | 0.78 | 1.54 | .12 |
| If a woman is being shoved or yelled at by a man, I ask her if she needs help. | 4.14 | 0.83 | 4.36 | 0.72 | −2.12 | .03* |
| Knock on the door if I hear yelling and fighting through my dormitory walls. | 3.26 | 1.09 | 3.08 | 1.00 | 1.29 | .19 |
| Talk with someone if I hear yelling or fighting through my dormitory or apartment walls. | 3.54 | 1.07 | 3.05 | 1.20 | 3.39 | .001** |
| Confront a friend who is grabbing, pushing, or insulting their partner. | 4.21 | 0.79 | 4.21 | 0.83 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Get help if I saw a friend grabbing, pushing, or insulting their partner. | 3.62 | 0.98 | 3.17 | 1.12 | 3.30 | .001** |
| If I saw a friend taking a very intoxicated person up the stairs to my friend’s room, I would say something. | 3.64 | 1.04 | 3.58 | 1.05 | 0.49 | .62 |
| If I saw several strangers dragging a passed out woman up to their room, I would get help and try to intervene. | 4.21 | 0.88 | 4.44 | 0.79 | −2.07 | .03* |
| If I hear an acquaintance talking about forcing someone to have sex with them, I speak up against it and express concern for the person who was forced. | 4.21 | 0.83 | 4.25 | 0.79 | −0.32 | .75 |
| Tell a person whose drink I saw spiked with a drug even if I didn’t know them. | 4.56 | 0.73 | 4.65 | 0.64 | −1.03 | .30 |
| Pour out someone’s drink if I saw that someone slipped something into it. | 4.16 | 1.01 | 4.21 | 0.92 | −0.40 | .69 |
| Ask a friend who seems upset if they are okay or need help. | 4.54 | 0.66 | 4.48 | 0.66 | 0.68 | .49 |
| Ask an acquaintance who seems upset if they are okay or need help. | 4.17 | 0.82 | 4.07 | 0.74 | 1.07 | .28 |
| Ask a stranger who seems upset if they are okay or need help. | 3.64 | 0.90 | 3.39 | 0.97 | 2.13 | .03* |
| Call a rape crisis center or RCa if a friend told me they were sexually assaulted. | 3.78 | 0.98 | 3.58 | 1.15 | 1.44 | .15 |
| Call a rape crisis center or RCa if an acquaintance were sexually assaulted. | 3.67 | 0.99 | 3.34 | 1.09 | 2.41 | .01* |
| Call a rape crisis center or RCa if a stranger told me they were sexually assaulted. | 3.33 | 1.08 | 3.02 | 1.12 | 2.16 | .03* |
| Offer support to a friend if I thought they were in an abusive relationship. | 4.41 | 0.69 | 4.24 | 0.83 | 1.69 | .09 |
| Offer support to a friend I suspect has been sexually assaulted. | 4.36 | 0.77 | 4.30 | 0.78 | 0.66 | .50 |
| Share information about sexual assault and violence with my friend. | 3.75 | 0.87 | 3.69 | 0.96 | 0.49 | .62 |
| Confront friends who make excuses for abusive behavior by others. | 4.01 | 0.83 | 4.16 | 0.74 | 1.47 | .14 |
| Speak up against racist jokes. | 2.81 | 1.20 | 2.47 | 1.22 | 2.18 | .03* |
| Speak up against sexist jokes. | 2.74 | 1.17 | 2.41 | 1.16 | 2.16 | .03* |
| Speak up against homophobic jokes. | 2.84 | 1.24 | 2.76 | 1.34 | 0.49 | .62 |
| Speak up against commercials that depict violence against women. | 3.21 | 1.21 | 2.84 | 1.28 | 2.27 | .02* |
| Speak up in class if a professor explains that women like to be raped. | 4.06 | 1.11 | 3.81 | 1.37 | 1.49 | .13 |
| Speak up if I hear someone say “she deserved to be raped.” | 4.24 | 0.99 | 4.03 | 1.08 | 1.55 | .12 |
| Watch my drinks and my friends’ drinks at parties. | 4.22 | 0.81 | 3.61 | 1.16 | 4.68 | <.001*** |
| Make sure I leave the party with the same people I came with. | 4.33 | 0.80 | 3.79 | 1.04 | 4.57 | <.001*** |
| Ask for verbal consent when intimate with my partner, even a relationship. | 4.13 | 0.95 | 3.41 | 1.15 | 5.36 | <.001*** |
| I won’t stop sexual activity when asked to if I am already sexually aroused.b | 1.65 | 1.14 | 1.73 | 1.10 | −0.52 | .60 |
| When I hear a sexist comment I indicate my displeasure. | 2.98 | 1.08 | 2.57 | 1.07 | 2.92 | .004** |
| I obtain verbal consent before engaging in sexual behavior. | 4.12 | 0.99 | 3.60 | 1.09 | 3.95 | <.001*** |
| If someone has been accused of sexual violence, I keep the information to myself.b | 2.65 | 0.96 | 2.68 | 0.88 | −0.28 | .78 |
| Educate myself about sexual violence and what I can do about it. | 3.43 | 1.06 | 2.96 | 1.03 | 3.52 | .001** |
| Call 911 if a stranger needs help. | 4.12 | 0.83 | 4.05 | 0.85 | 0.69 | .49 |
| I see a man and his girlfriend whom I know in a heated argument. The man’s fist is clenched and his partner looks upset. I ask if everything is ok. | 3.74 | 0.90 | 3.78 | 0.79 | −0.30 | .76 |
| I see a man talking to a woman at a bar. He is sitting very close to her and by the look on her face I can see she is uncomfortable. I ask her if she is ok. | 3.50 | 1.05 | 3.51 | 0.96 | −0.06 | .95 |
| I see a man I don’t know and his girlfriend. His fist is clenched and his partner looks upset. I ask if everything is ok. | 3.31 | 1.05 | 3.42 | 0.90 | −0.85 | .39 |
| I encourage people who say they have had unwanted sexual experiences to keep quiet so they don’t get others in trouble.b | 1.77 | 0.90 | 1.96 | 1.07 | −1.50 | .13 |
| If I know information about an incident of sexual violence, I tell authorities. | 3.67 | 0.95 | 3.59 | 0.80 | 0.66 | .51 |
a
Resident counselor.
b
Item is reverse coded.
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
***
p < .001.