TY - JOUR
T1 - Bystander Interventions on Behalf of Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence Victims
AU - Weitzman, Abigail
AU - Cowan, Sarah
AU - Walsh, Kate
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - Using newly available U.S. nationally representative data from the No More study (N = 1,307), this article investigates (a) knowledge of sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV) victims within one’s social network; (b) who intervenes, whom they intervene on behalf of, and how they intervene; and (c) the perceived barriers to intervening in IPV specifically. The findings reveal that knowledge of violence, the likelihood of intervening, and the intervention approaches taken all vary demographically and by violence type. Among respondents who have known a victim, one- third report having intervened for sexual assault, while one-half report having intervened for IPV. For both types of violence, respondents are more likely to have intervened on behalf of family or friends than on behalf of more distant network members. However, respondents are more likely to have solicited the help of authorities and less likely to have offered safe haven in instances of sexual assault than in instances of IPV. The most commonly cited barriers to IPV intervention include fear of injury, fear of misinterpretation, and belief that IPV is a private matter, though these vary across demographic groups. These findings indicate that the decision to intervene is highly contextual—contingent on the individual characteristics of the intervener, situational characteristics of the violence, and the relationship between the intervener and the victim.
AB - Using newly available U.S. nationally representative data from the No More study (N = 1,307), this article investigates (a) knowledge of sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV) victims within one’s social network; (b) who intervenes, whom they intervene on behalf of, and how they intervene; and (c) the perceived barriers to intervening in IPV specifically. The findings reveal that knowledge of violence, the likelihood of intervening, and the intervention approaches taken all vary demographically and by violence type. Among respondents who have known a victim, one- third report having intervened for sexual assault, while one-half report having intervened for IPV. For both types of violence, respondents are more likely to have intervened on behalf of family or friends than on behalf of more distant network members. However, respondents are more likely to have solicited the help of authorities and less likely to have offered safe haven in instances of sexual assault than in instances of IPV. The most commonly cited barriers to IPV intervention include fear of injury, fear of misinterpretation, and belief that IPV is a private matter, though these vary across demographic groups. These findings indicate that the decision to intervene is highly contextual—contingent on the individual characteristics of the intervener, situational characteristics of the violence, and the relationship between the intervener and the victim.
KW - bystander intervention
KW - intimate partner violence
KW - sexual assault
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042624695&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85042624695&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0886260517696873
DO - 10.1177/0886260517696873
M3 - Article
C2 - 29294685
AN - SCOPUS:85042624695
SN - 0886-2605
VL - 35
SP - 1694
EP - 1718
JO - Journal of Interpersonal Violence
JF - Journal of Interpersonal Violence
IS - 7-8
ER -