Sexual Harassment: Identifying Risk Factors

A new model of the etiology of sexual harassment,the four-factor model, is presented and compared with several models of sexual harassment including the biological model, the organizational model, the sociocultural model,and the sexrole spillover model. A number of risk factors associated with sexually harassing behavior are examined within the framework of the four-factor model of sexual harassment. These include characteristics of the work environment (e.g., sexist attitudes among co-workers, unprofessional work environment, skewed sex ratios in the workplace, knowledge of grievance procedures for sexual harassment incidents) as well as personal characteristics of the subject (e.g., physical attractiveness, job status, sexrole). Subjects were 266 university female faculty, staff, and students who completed the Sexual Experience Questionnaire to assess the experience of sexual harassment and a questionnaire designed to assess the risk factors stated above. Results indicated that the four-factor model is a better predictor of sexual harassment than the alternative models. The risk factors most strongly associated with sexual harassment were an unprofessional environment in the workplace, sexist atmosphere, and lack of knowledge about the organization's formal grievance procedures.     

Sexual Harassment Policies in Florida School Districts

ABSTRACT: Until recently, little attention has focused on the sexual harassment that occurs in primary and secondary schools. Several school-related lawsuits and study results heightened awareness of the issue. This study investigated the extent to which Florida's school districts complied with the Florida Department of Education's (FDOE) recommendation and guidelines for addressing sexual harassment in schools. District equity coordinators were surveyed regarding policy development, implementation, promotion, education, and effects. Policies were collected for analysis. Most districts responded to the strong encouragement of the FDOE and approved a sexual harassment policy incorporating many of the suggested components. However, policies included only basic information when compared with suggestions from the literature. Results suggest problems with sexual harassment will continue due to lack of efforts in promoting awareness of the policy and education about the issue, which scholars insist are necessary for effectiveness     

Sexual Harassment of Women in Urban China

Using data from the Chinese Health and Family Life survey, this study analyzed the prevalence of and risk factors for sexual harassment in China in the year 2000. It was the first study to use a general population sample to examine all types of harassment in an Asian country. The dataset was a stratified probability sample with 3,821 participants, and was nationally representative (apart from Hong Kong and Tibet) of China’s adult population aged 20–64. In total, 12.5% of all women and 15.1% of urban women reported some form of harassment in the past year. Among urban women age 20–45, most cross-sex harassment was not from supervisors or superiors (1.4%) but from coworkers and other peers (7.0%), strangers (4.6%), dates and boyfriends (3.6%), and others (2.6%). Multivariate analysis of risk factors for cross-sex harassment suggested that, despite its predominance in the Western literature on sexual harassment, the power differentials approach, focusing on male-female power differentials in patriarchal societies, was of modest utility. The results were more consistent with a more comprehensive routine activities approach borrowed from criminology, which emphasizes situational opportunity, perceived benefit to the harasser, and reduced costs for the harasser. The most striking result from the data represents the area receiving the least attention in the West, namely, the perpetrator’s perception of “benefit,” deriving from the victim’s inadvertent “signaling.”     

Sexual Harassment at Work in the United States

Using nationally representative data from the 1992 U.S. National Health and Social Life Survey, this study queried the prevalence and risk factors of lifetime workplace sexual harassment among both women and men. Among those aged 18-60 reporting ever having worked, 41% of women (CI, 37-44) reported any workplace harassment over their lifetime, with men's harassment prevalence significantly lower, at 32% (CI, 29-35). In the youngest age groups (those in their 20s or younger), there was no statistically significant difference between women's and men's harassment prevalence. Multivariate analysis of risk factors suggested that, in contrast to much of the harassment literature, among both genders workplace harassment seemed to have at least as much to do with a system of "routine activities" mechanisms-a victim's conscious or unconscious sexual signaling, more exposure to potential harassers, and a perpetrator's lower cost of harassment-as with unobserved differences in power between victim and perpetrator. Strikingly, both women's and men's harassment was strongly linked to markers of sexualization, whether early developmental factors or behavioral patterns in adulthood-a mechanism insufficiently emphasized in the harassment literature.     

Tolerance of Sexual Harassment: A Laboratory Paradigm

The present study attempted to develop a laboratory analogue for the study of tolerance for sexual harassment by using an online speed-dating paradigm. In that context, the relation between participants’ sexual harassment attitudes, perpetrator attractiveness, perpetrator status, and perceived dating potential of the perpetrator were examined as factors influencing participants’ tolerance of sexually harassing behavior. Participants were 128 female college students from a small northeastern public university. Results indicated that attractiveness, high social status, and attitudinal beliefs about sexual harassment were all predictive of tolerance for sexual harassment, providing preliminary support for the validity of this paradigm. In addition, participants’ self reported likelihood to date a bogus male dating candidate was also predictive of tolerance for sexual harassment, over and above the aforementioned variables, suggesting that dating potential can play a role in perceptions of sexual harassment. Further, this experiment demonstrated that perceptions of sexual harassment can be assessed using the in vivo measurement of behavior. In addition, using an online environment not only provides a contemporary spin and adds a greater degree of external validity compared to other sexual harassment analogues, it also reduces any risk of potential physical sexual contact for participants.     

Sexual Harassment in Academia: A Hazard to Women's Health

ABSTRACT

Universities and colleges have for a long time ignored sexual harassment, hoped it was non-existent or wailed for it to disappear. Recently, however, students, professors and university administrators have begun to recognize the perniciousness and pervasiveness of the problem but thus far with little attention to sexual harassment as a health hazard. Based on data collected by questionnaire from 455 women university undergraduate and graduate students and nine follow-up in-depth interviews, this study examines the dimensions and dynamics of sexual harassment as a health hazard for women. Sexual harassment is found to have both direct and indirect health effects, including nausea and sleeplessness, loss of self-esteem, fear and anger, feelings of helplessness and isolation, as well as nervousness and depression. In contributing to the literature on women's culturally and socially determined health problems, this study sheds light on the ways in which women students' economic, political, social and personal well-being can be undermined by sexual harassment.     

Sexual Orientation Change among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review

Archives of Sexual Behavior - This article reviews research on changes in self-reported sexual orientation labels and associated health outcomes among adolescents and young adults. Using seven...     

Coping and Sexual Harassment: How Victims Cope across Multiple Settings

The ways sexual harassment occurs both online and in face-to-face settings has become more complicated. Sexual harassment that occurs in cyberspace or online sexual harassment adds complexity to the experiences of victims, current research understandings, and the legal dimensions of this phenomenon. Social networking sites (SNS) are a type of social media that offer unique opportunities to users and sometimes the communication that occurs on SNS can cross the line from flirtation into online sexual harassment. Victims of sexual harassment employ communicative strategies such as coping to make sense of their experiences of sexual harassment. The current study qualitatively examined problem-focused, active emotion-focused, and passive emotion-focused coping strategies employed by sexual harassment victims across multiple settings. We conducted 26 in-depth interviews with victims that had experienced sexual harassment across multiple settings (e.g., face-to-face and SNS). The findings present 16 types of coping strategies—five problem-focused, five active emotion-focused, and six passive emotion-focused. The victims used an average of three types of coping strategies during their experiences. Theoretical implications extend research on passive emotion-focused coping strategies by discussing powerlessness and how victims blame other victims. Furthermore, theoretically the findings reveal that coping is a complex, cyclical process and that victims shift among types of coping strategies over the course of their experience. Practical implications are offered for victims and for SNS sites.     

Combat Deployment Is Associated with Sexual Harassment or Sexual Assault in a Large,Female Military Cohort

BackgroundPrevious studies have examined the prevalence, risk factors, and health correlates of sexual stressors in the military, but have been limited to specific subpopulations. Furthermore, little is known about sexual stressors' occurrence and their correlates in relation to female troops deployed to the current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.MethodsUsing longitudinal data from Millennium Cohort participants, the associations of recent deployment as well as other individual and environmental factors with sexual harassment and sexual assault were assessed among U.S. female military personnel. Multivariable analyses were used to investigate the associations.FindingsOf 13,262 eligible participants, 1,362 (10.3%) reported at least one sexual stressor at follow-up. Women who deployed and reported combat experiences were significantly more likely to report sexual harassment (odds ratio [OR], 2.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.84–2.64) or both sexual harassment and sexual assault (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.61–3.78) compared with nondeployers. In addition, significant risk factors for sexual stressors included younger age, recent separation or divorce, service in the Marine Corps, positive screen for a baseline mental health condition, moderate/severe life stress, and prior sexual stressor experiences.ConclusionsAlthough deployment itself was not associated with sexual stressors, women who both deployed and reported combat were at a significantly increased odds for sexual stressors than other female service members who did not deploy. Understanding the factors associated with sexual stressors can inform future policy and prevention efforts to eliminate sexual stressors.     

Unit Support Protects Against Sexual Harassment and Assault Among National Guard Soldiers

ObjectiveDespite concerns about increased sexual harassment and assault after the 2013 legislation repealing the ban on women in combat, little research has examined military factors that could prevent sexual harassment and assault during deployment. This study examined whether unit support, which reflects the quality of service members' relationships within their unit, protects against sexual harassment and assault during deployment.MethodsParticipants were 1,674 Ohio Army National Guard service members who reported at least one deployment during a telephone survey conducted in 2008 and 2009. Participants completed measures of sexual harassment/assault, unit support, and psychosocial support. Logistic regression was used to model odds of sexual harassment/assault.ResultsApproximately 13.2% of men (n = 198) and 43.5% of women (n = 74) reported sexual harassment, and 1.1% of men (n = 17) and 18.8% of women (n = 32) reported sexual assault during their most recent deployment. Greater unit support was associated with decreased odds of sexual harassment and assault.ConclusionsA substantial proportion of men and women reported sexual harassment/assault. Greater unit support was associated with diminished odds of sexual harassment/assault during deployment. Programming designed to improve unit cohesion has the potential to reduce sexual harassment and assault.     

Economic Dependence and Unprotected Sex: The Role of Sexual Assertiveness among Young Urban Mothers

In the USA, sexual intercourse is the leading route of human immunodeficiency virus transmission among women, primarily through their main partner. Because male condom use is not directly under a woman's control, gender inequalities may help shape this sexual risk behavior. To examine this association, data came from follow-up interviews of young, primarily minority, pregnant women enrolled in a prospective, randomized controlled trial. Specifically, we aimed to determine the relationship between economic dependence on a male partner and condom use, and to establish whether this relationship was mediated by sexual assertiveness. Overall, 28% of women reported being economically dependent on a male partner. Young women dependent on a male partner were 1.6 times more likely to report not using a condom at last sex than women not dependent on their partner (95% confidence interval = 1.11–2.32; p = 0.01). Sexual assertiveness mediated the relationship between economic dependence and condom use (Sobel = 2.05, p = 0.04). Coupled with past research, this study supports the premise that sexual behaviors may be rooted in a complex web of social determinants. Addressing gender inequalities in contextual factors may promote healthier decisions within sexual relationships.     

Profiles of Adolescent Relationship Abuse and Sexual Harassment: a Latent Class Analysis

This study aims to identify homogeneous groups of individuals based on self-reported victimization and perpetration of three subtypes of adolescent relationship abuse (ARA; physical, psychological, and sexual) and sexual harassment (SH). Study sample consists of 645 current or past-year daters aged 12–21, drawn from the National Survey on Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence (STRiV). Latent class analysis was used to classify individuals, and a three-class model was selected (Low ARA-Low SH, High ARA-High SH, and Psychological ARA-Medium SH). Results provide evidence for three latent classes with varying patterns of ARA and SH. A number of exogenous variables were significantly associated with these patterns, e.g., youth who were previously exposed to any general violence were three times as likely to be in the High ARA-High SH class as those not previously exposed to violence. Adolescent relationship abuse prevention efforts should include activities to address sexual harassment, and vice versa. Results call for universal preventive intervention programs targeting adolescent relationship abuse and sexual harassment to start as early as adolescence, and the existence of the High ARA-High SH group supports the need for more targeted effort to interrupt such patterns.

     

Material Deprivation Affects High Sexual Risk Behavior among Young People in Urban Slums,South Africa

Young people in urban slums adopt HIV risk behaviors influenced by their neighborhood factors. Three critical factors in urban slums of Southern and Eastern Africa—the region most affected by the HIV epidemic in the world—are unmet needs of housing, food, and health care, which are associated with HIV sexual risks. Yet, there has been limited attention on how the combination of unmet needs of housing, food, and health care—i.e., material deprivation—relates to sexual risk behavior among young people in urban slums. Cross-sectional data were extracted from the LoveLife survey in South African four provinces—KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, and Gauteng, to examine the association between material deprivation and sexual risk behavior among young people aged 18–23 years (263 males, 267 females) in urban slums. Adjusted logistic regression models showed that material deprivation was significantly associated with increased odds of high sexual risk taking for young men (adjusted OR = 1.20; 95 % CI = 1.10, 5.58) and young women (adjusted OR = 1.43; 95 % CI = 1.35, 3.28). Financial difficulty—a proxy for other deprivations—was the most salient influence on young women’s high sexual risk taking (adjusted OR = 2.11; 95 % CI = 1.66, 2.70). Localized behavioral HIV prevention interventions should target young people in deprived households.     

Gene-Environment Contributions to Young Adult Sexual Partnering

To date, there has been relatively little work on gene-environment contributions to human sexuality, especially molecular analyses examining the potential contributions of specific polymorphisms in conjunction with life experiences. Using Wave III data from 717 heterozygous young adult sibling pairs included in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this article examined the combined contributions of attendance at religious services and three genetic polymorphisms (in the dopamine D4 receptor [DRD4]), dopamine D2 receptor [DRD2]), and the serotonin transporter promoter [5HTT]) to sensation seeking, a personality construct related to sexual behavior, and the number of vaginal sex partners participants had in the year before interview. Data analyses used an Allison mixed model approach to account for population stratification and correlated observations. DRD4 was unrelated to sensation seeking and to the number of sex partners in tests of both main effects and in interaction with religious attendance. Contrary to hypothesis, presence of the A1 DRD2 allele was associated with having had fewer sex partners in the past year. Associations between the 5HTT allele and sex partners varied by religious attendance, but again the patterns of associations were contrary to hypothesized relationships and were small in magnitude. These findings underscore the necessity of using more comprehensive multiple gene-multiple life experience approaches to investigations of complex behaviors such as sexual patterns.     

Masculine Gender Roles Associated with Increased Sexual Risk and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration among Young Adult Men

This study sought to assess the association between traditional masculine gender role ideologies and sexual risk and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration behaviors in young men's heterosexual relationships. Sexually active men age 18–35 years attending an urban community health center in Boston were invited to join a study on men's sexual risk; participants (N=307) completed a brief self-administered survey on sexual risk (unprotected sex, forced unprotected sex, multiple sex partners) and IPV perpetration (physical, sexual and injury from/need for medical services due to IPV) behaviors, as well as demographics. Current analyses included men reporting sex with a main female partner in the past 3 months (n=283). Logistic regression analyses adjusted for demographics were used to assess significant associations between male gender role ideologies and the sexual risk and IPV perpetration behaviors. Participants were predominantly Hispanic (74.9%) and Black (21.9%); 55.5% were not born in the continental U.S.; 65% had been in the relationship for more than 1 year. Men reporting more traditional ideologies were significantly more likely to report unprotected vaginal sex in the past 3 months (OR_adj = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.2–4.6) and IPV perpetration in the past year (OR_adj = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.2–3.6). Findings indicate that masculine gender role ideologies are linked with young men's unprotected vaginal sex and IPV perpetration in relationships, suggesting that such ideologies may be a useful point of sexual risk reduction and IPV prevention intervention with this population.Santana and Raj are with the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Decker and Silverman are with the Department of Society, Human Development and Health and Division of Public Health Practice, Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; La Marche is with the Martha Eliot Health Center, Boston, MA, USA.     

深圳市龙岗区劳务工未婚青年性知识和性行为的调查

目的了解沿海发达地区劳务工未婚青年性知识与性行为的状况，为构建和谐的社会环境，遏制性病、艾滋病的传播提供防治依据。方法对随机抽取的500名18～35岁未婚男女劳务工进行问卷调查。结果调查对象有一定的生理卫生、性、性病知识，与全国情况差距不大。但性行为状况以及避孕措施不理想，低学历人群组表现尤其突出。按性别、学历状况比较，生理知识、生殖知识和风险认知、性病知识、婚前性行为、避孕措施等方面有差异。调查发现：人群中63．90％有恋爱史，53．53％有婚前性行为，而且值得关注的是性对象的变动性和流动性大，性病的交叉感染的机会也大；女性中36人有人工流产记录，有性病史或怀疑得过性病的有82人，占17．01％。结论劳务工的生殖健康状况不容乐观，加强健康教育，提高生殖健康意识刻不容缓。