Sexual Misconduct in the Military: The Impact of Situational Factors on Bystander Intervention Strategies

Intervening is frequently encouraged to prevent or respond to sexual misconduct. However, due to the characteristics of military organizations (e.g., hierarchical structure), intervening may be challenging in military contexts. The aim of this study is to examine situational factors present in militaries (e.g., bystander’s rank relative to the perpetrator’s) that may impact the use of direct or indirect intervention strategies. A sample of Canadian Armed Forces members completed a scenario-based experiment. The results revealed that rank of the bystander, gender of the target, and severity of the situation impacted the use of direct intervention strategies, and the bystander’s rank relative to the perpetrator’s, gender of the target, and severity of the situation impacted the use of indirect intervention strategies. These findings highlight where direct and indirect interventions are unlikely to occur and situations that warrant greater focus in training programs and in communications from leadership.