(PS9-100) To Intervene or Not to Intervene: An Examination of the Effects of Alcohol Intoxication and Disability on Bystander Behavior

Consuming alcohol increases the risks associated with sexual activity (Garcia et al., 2012). Latané and Darley (1970) created a five-step, decision-making model of bystander intervention that provides a general framework for understanding how individuals might mitigate the risks associated with behaviors like alcohol consumption. These five steps include bystanders 1) noticing the situation, 2) identifying a situation as dangerous and requiring intervention, 3) taking responsibility to intervene, 4) choosing how to intervene, and 5) acting to intervene. It is also necessary to consider the impact of sociocultural factors on bystander behavior. The current study was designed to examine the impact of alcohol intoxication and disability status on bystander behavior in response to risky sexual behavior.

In the current study, 417 participants were recruited online via Amazon’s MTurk website and randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions in which they read a vignette depicting a scenario involving risky sexual behavior. The independent variables of level of alcohol intoxication (sober vs. moderately drinking vs. binge drinking) and disability status (visual impairment vs. no disability) of a person in need of help were manipulated within the vignettes. Participants then completed questionnaires measuring the outcome variables that coincide with the steps of Latané and Darley’s (1970) model.

We removed responses based on bot identification, attention checks, and dissatisfactory responses to Step 1 (noticing the event) of the bystander model, resulting in a sample size of 135 participants for main analyses (66% male, MAge = 23.96). A 2 x 3 factorial MANCOVA was used to examine the effects of level of alcohol intoxication and disability status on the bystander behavior outcome measures while controlling for participants’ age and gender.

Results revealed a nonsignificant multivariate interaction effect and a nonsignificant main effect of disability across bystander steps. However, results showed a significant multivariate main effect of level of alcohol intoxication across bystander steps, Wilks’ λ = .54, F(12, 244) = 7.25, p < .001, partial η² = .26. Follow-up ANCOVAs revealed significant main effects on steps 2-5 of the bystander model (p < .001 across steps). Specifically, binge and moderate drinking condition participants were more likely to identify the situation as dangerous and needing intervention (step 2), take responsibility to intervene (step 3), identify a strategy to use (step 4), and ultimately decide to intervene in the situation (step 5) compared to sober condition participants. Furthermore, binge drinking participants compared to moderate drinking participants were more likely to complete steps 4 and 5 of the model. 

These findings suggest that bystanders are more likely to intervene as the person’s intoxication increases. This study also reflects the importance of considering sociocultural factors like disability in bystander behavior research (Guidi et al., 2023). These results have important implications for future research regarding contextual factors that impact bystander behaviors and could potentially assist in predicting the efficacy of existing and novel bystander prevention programs.