(PS10-79) When Beliefs Meet Behavior: How Male Role Norms Influence Bystander Action in Virtual Reality

Abstract Text: Sexual aggression (SA) is a significant public health issue (Cantor et al., 2019), with bystander intervention recognized as an effective method for preventing assault and supporting victims (Banyard et al., 2011). Intervention programs aim to increase prosocial action by targeting key factors that influence whether individuals recognize and respond to SA risk (Banyard et al., 2007). One such factor is men's adherence to traditional masculine role norms. Studies indicate that men who endorse these norms are less likely to intervene to prevent SA. For example, endorsement of the ‘toughness’ and ‘anti-femininity’ norms is linked to fewer bystander behaviors, likely from concerns about appearing weak, feminine, or resistant to masculine group dynamics (Leone & Parrott, 2022). However, endorsement of the ‘status’ norm is positively associated with bystander behavior in contexts where men believe their social status will be enhanced (Leone et al., 2020). Still, the extent to which adherence to masculine norms influences the enactment of bystander behavior remains unclear, as most existing research relies on self-report measures which introduce critical methodological weaknesses (Gidycz et al., 2011; McMahon et al., 2015). Beyond social desirability and recall biases, self-reports more easily identify severe SA behaviors (e.g., attempted rape) than less severe SV behaviors, as less severe SA events may go unnoticed or not be deemed as problematic. To address these limitations, the present study used the Bystanders in Sexual Assault Virtual Environments (BSAVE, DiLillo & Gervais, 2022) paradigm, which provides a virtual setting to observe in vivo whether participants notice sexual risk and attempt to intervene. It was hypothesized that strong endorsement of masculine norms would weaken the positive association between self-reported past bystander actions and SA intervention behavior measured by the BSAVE. Participants were 173 male undergraduates who completed validated measures of past bystander behavior and masculine role norms, including subscales for Status, Toughness, and Anti-Femininity. Participants then engaged in the BSAVE paradigm, which assessed SA intervention across eight sexual risk scenarios that varied in severity. Using PROCESS v4.2, analyses revealed that traditional masculinity significantly moderated the relation between self-reported bystander behavior and SA intervention (b = –0.077, p = 0.041), such that this association was more negative among men with high (b = –0.08, p = 0.12), relative to low (b = 0.08, p = 0.15), adherence to masculine norms. Subscale analyses indicated marginal moderation effects for Toughness (b = 0.061, p = 0.079) and Status (b = –0.060, p = 0.055) but not Anti-Femininity (b = –0.046, p = 0.157), that were characterized by a similar pattern of covariation. Findings indicate that when men strongly endorse traditional masculine norms, the link between their self-reported past bystander behavior and actual VR intervention weakens. Intervention programs should therefore target such norms. Additionally, to mitigate self-report biases, future research should integrate behavioral and experimental methods, such as VR, that capture intervention behavior more reliably.