The Relationship of Bystander Intervention Variables to Adolescents’ Responses to Suicidal Peers

The present study investigated the responses of 314 adolescents to potentially suicidal peers. Students were randomly assigned 1 of 4 vignettes about a troubled peer under conditions of high vs low ambiguity & high vs low diffusion of responsibility. Results include females being more likely than males to report that they would tell an adult than to ignore a troubled peer. A majority of students who said that they would do nothing estimated that other students would respond in a similar manner.