Event-specific and individual factors impacting college students' decisions to intervene in a potentially risky scenario.

Universities have attempted to address sexual violence on campuses through various prevention programs, including bystander intervention. Unfortunately, the extant literature on bystander intervention has primarily focused on bystander characteristics. Little is known about how situational characteristics affect the likelihood of intervening during sexual violence; yet, these variables have the potential to influence the effectiveness of bystander intervention programs. Using data collected from college students (N = 626) at a single university located in a large Southern metropolitan city, the present study utilizes a factorial survey design to investigate the impact of location, victim/offender sex, and perceptions of alcohol use on self-reported probability of intervention in an ambiguous sexual scenario. Results indicate that participants were more likely to intervene in scenarios that depicted a fraternity-hosted social (vs. on-campus) and less likely when there was a female perpetrator and a male victim. Perceived alcohol use did not impact intervention.

Are we Truly "Safer-At-Home"? A Test of Contextual Effects on Mental Health and Drug Overdose Incidents During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study examined whether the social restrictions stemming from COVID-19 impacted the locations of mental health and drug overdose incidents, while controlling for immediate and community contextual indices. Addresses for mental health/overdose calls to law enforcement or emergency medical services between January 1, 2018 and August 13, 2020 were collected from one police department in the Midwestern United States. Businesses and previous victimization/offending were joined with parcels (level-1; N = 20,019), whereas local services and socioeconomic indicators were joined with block groups (level-2; N = 32), to allow for a multi-level (HLM7) examination of context on mental health/overdose incidents. Event Rate Ratios (ERR) revealed the greatest contextual effects took place following social distancing mandates. Findings highlight the importance of allocating to areas with the highest likelihood of reporting incidents and suggest that parcels with a history of sex offenses, drug offenses, and prior mental health calls may benefit the greatest from preventative resources.

Seeking Help From Formal Sources Among Teen Dating Violence Victims: Exploring the Role of Incident and Victim Characteristics.

Most teen dating violence (TDV) victims do not seek help after their victimization experience. While research has identified that victims are more likely to turn to informal versus formal sources, there is a lack of knowledge about what factors are predictive of help-seeking from formal sources. The current study explored the impact of incident and victim characteristics on help-seeking from formal sources among middle and high school TDV victims (N = 2,174). Findings indicate that the severity and location of the victimization significantly increase the likelihood of help-seeking from formal sources.

The Extent and Risk of Violent Victimization Among International College Students Enrolled in the United States: A Gendered Analysis.

Although the risk of being violently victimized in college has been established for college students in the United States in general, this risk has not been explored for international college students. Using data from the Fall 2012 National College Health Assessment Survey, the extent to which international college students experience violent victimization is assessed. In addition, the risk factors for violent victimization for international students are compared with those for domestic students. Finally, in multivariate analyses, whether being an international student influences risk of violent victimization is examined and whether this relationship is moderated by gender is considered. Findings indicate that international students in general have lower risk profiles, in that they reported lower rates of drug use, binge drinking, being a first-year undergraduate student, and having a disability. Multivariate analyses, however, revealed that being an international student reduces the odds of violent victimization among only females.