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Sexual Harassment
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The role of biological maturity in behaviors in adolescence which most often are considered as negative by adults was investigated for a normal group of girls. In mid-adolescence early matured girls were found to play truant, smoke hashish, get drunk, pilfer, ignore parents' prohibitions, considerably more often than did late maturing girls. These differences between biological age groups were mediated by the association with older peer groups and they leveled out in late adolescence. Data on alcohol consumption and crime at adult age showed little association with biological maturation. A hypothesis was tested suggesting that early biological maturation may have negative long-term consequences within the education domain. In accord with this assumption, a considerably smaller percentage of girls among the early maturers had a theoretical education above the obligatory nine-year compulsory schooling than among the late maturing girls. The association between biological maturation and adult education was significant also after controlling for standard predictors of education, such as the girls' intelligence and the social status of the home. The requirement of conducting longitudinal studies when investigating issues connected with maturation was strongly emphasized.
This article describes the roles of gender, power, and relationship in peer sexual harassment for 342 urban high school students. Overall, 87% of girls and 79% of boys report experiencing peer sexual harassment, whereas 77% of girls and 72% of boys report sexually harassing their peers during the school year. Girls experience the more overtly sexual forms of harassment more often than boys and boys perpetrate sexual harassing behaviors more often than girls. Hypotheses of a relationship between power, gender, and the perpetration of peer sexual harassment are supported.
In this comparison study of peer sexual harassment and peer violence in Johannesburg, South Africa and Chicago, US schools, the role of gender and power in the experience, perpetration and reaction to peer sexual harassment, physical violence and sexual violence are described for 208 South African students and 220 US students aged 16-18.
Although power differentials are commonly believed to be central to sexual harassment experiences, prior empirical investigations have found no clear association between a perpetrator’s organizational status (as an index of his power) and perceptions by the victim that the perpetrator’s behavior constitutes sexual harassment. A model to explain this pattern as the result of two opposing mediators is forwarded and tested. Specifically, it was found that a harasser’s organizational status affects perceptions of his power, which increase a victim’s perceptions that the perpetrator’s behavior is harassing; however, it also was found that a harasser’s organizational status simultaneously affects perceptions of his social dominance, which decrease perceptions that his behavior is harassing. Thus, these mediators cancel each other, yielding a null finding when their effects are ignored. This finding supports both sociocultural and evolutionary models of sexual harassment perceptions and suggests that each can contribute to an understanding of sexual harassment experiences.
This article explores the empirical validity of the Social Interactionist (SI) perspective as an explanation of violent victimization. An additional goal is to explain why early puberty among adolescents is connected to violent victimization. Using SI, we theorize that early puberty creates unusually high levels of distress for adolescents (more so for girls than boys), causing them to behave in ways that create grievances with others and provoke victimization. The research hypotheses were tested using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative data set of teenagers attending school in the United States. We found that measures of distress significantly increase violent victimization among members of the sample. Furthermore, the SI measures partially mediated the relationship between early puberty and violent victimization for boys and fully mediated this relationship for girls.
Research on effectiveness of school bullying interventions has lagged behind descriptive studies on this topic. The literature on bullying intervention research has only recently expanded to a point that allows for synthesis of findings across studies. The authors conducted a meta-analytic study of school bullying intervention research across the 25-year period from 1980 through 2004, identifying 16 studies that met our inclusion criteria. These studies included 15,386 K through 12 student participants from European nations and the United States. Applying standard meta-analysis techniques to obtain averaged effect size estimates across similar outcomes, the authors found that the intervention studies produced meaningful and clinically important positive effects for about one-third of the variables. The majority of outcomes evidenced no meaningful change, positive or negative. The authors conclude that school bullying interventions may produce modest positive outcomes; that they are more likely to influence knowledge, attitudes, and self-perceptions rather than actual bullying behaviors; and that the majority of outcome variables in intervention studies are not meaningfully impacted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
To date, scholars who investigate sexual harassment have been disturbingly silent about issues facing women of color. The current study describes results of a qualitative study of sexual and racial harassment conducted with 37 African American women. These data indicate that African American women cannot easily separate issues of race and gender when considering their personal accounts of victimization, which creates a form of racialized sexual harassment. Implications for practice and therapeutic interventions are presented.
Much research has focused on youth who are rejected by peers; who engage in negative behavior, including aggression; and who are at risk for adjustment problems. Recently, researchers have become increasingly interested in high-status youth. A distinction is made between two groups of high-status youth: those who are genuinely well liked by their peers and engage in predominantly prosocial behaviors and those who are seen as popular by their peers but are not necessarily well liked. The latter group of youth is well known, socially central, and emulated; but displays a mixed profle of prosocial as well as aggressive and manipulative behaviors. Research now needs to address the distinctive characteristics of these two groups and their developmental precursors and consequences. Of particular interest are high-status and socially powerful aggressors and their impact on their peers. The heterogeneity of high-status youth complicates the understanding of the social dynamics of the peer group, but will lead to new and important insights into the developmental significance of peer relationships.
This study examines the links between students' reports of sexual harassment victimization by peers and a number of individual and school contextual factors. It is based on a nationally representative sample of 16,604 students in Grades 7 through 11 in 327 schools across Israel who completed questionnaires during class. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to examine the links. Overall, approximately one in four students (25.6%) were victims of at least one unwanted and unwelcome act of harassment by peers (such as being touched or pinched in sexual manner) in the prior month. The most vulnerable groups were Israeli-Arab boys and students with negative perceptions of their school climate. The school correlates associated with higher levels of victimization were a higher share of students with less-educated parents, larger schools and classrooms, and negative school climate. The interactions between gender and school-related factors indicate that the gender patterns are different for Israeli-Arab and Jewish schools and for schools with different concentrations of students' families with low socioeconomic status. The study emphasizes the need for an ecological perspective in addressing school-based sexual harassment.
The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school children''s interpretation of sexual harassment incidents and the relationship of those interpretations to self-esteem and body esteem. Eleven scenarios were read to 73 third- to fifth-grade children. Eight scenarios exemplified peer harassment. The children were asked how they thought the victim felt, what the victim should do, why the perpetrator did this, and whether something similar had ever happened to them. They also completed gender role, self-esteem, and body esteem scales. Results indicated that the majority of the children had experienced peer harassment and that the boys and girls had experienced about equal amounts. However, total harassment was negatively related to self-esteem in girls, but not boys. Furthermore, the children''s interpretations of the scenarios as well as the relationship of these interpretations to body and self-esteem indicated that the meaning of sexual harassment was different for the boys and girls. Girls were more likely to think the victim would be frightened and boys more likely to think that the victim would be flattered by the attention. Girls who reported that the victim would be frightened or that they did not know how the victim would react reported lower body esteem. These data are interpreted within the framework of sexual terrorism and sexual objectification theories. These data also underscore the need for additional research in sexual harassment among young children.
Empathy, prosocial behavior, the number of friends, self-reported popularity, and various forms of interpersonal forgiveness were examined as predictors of peer victimization among 52 7th and 8th graders attending a private school. Popularity was the strongest individual predictor of teacher-reported victimization with high popularity associated with low victimization. Malestudents reported significantly higher rates of victimization than females, prompting the decision to examine correlates of self-reported victimization separately by gender. Interpersonal forgiveness scores were the strongest predictors of self-reported victimization; however, different forms of forgiveness were the greatest predictors of male and female self-reported victimization. Implications are discussed.
The present study examined the link between sexual orientation and adjustment in a community sample of 97 sexual minority
(gay male, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning) high school students, taking into account their experiences of peer victimization
and social support within peer and family contexts. Adolescents were identified in a large-scale survey study conducted at
5 high schools. They were matched to a comparison sample of their heterosexual peers. Sexual minority adolescents reported
more externalizing behaviors and depression symptoms than heterosexual youth. Compared to their heterosexual peers, sexual
minority youth reported more sexual harassment, more bullying, less closeness with their mothers, and less companionship with
their best friends. There were no significant differences between gay male, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning adolescents.
Overall, both victimization and social support mediated the link between sexual orientation and psychosocial symptoms. Among
sexual minority youth, the link between social support and externalizing was mediated by experiences of peer victimization.
These findings highlight the contextual risk and protective factors associated with non-heterosexual sexual orientation in
accounting for the emotional and behavioral problems in this population.
The Expect Respect Project, a violence prevention program, was developed to reduce the incidence of bullying and sexual harassment by creating a positive school climate in which inappropriate behaviors are not tolerated and staff members respond consistently to incidents. The project implemented an educational intervention for students, parents, and staff members on expecting respect in student relationships and strategies for responding to inappropriate student behaviors. This article describes the educational intervention and evaluation of the project. Findings from the project showed a significant increase in awareness of bullying following the educational intervention. Bullying was reported to have occurred in areas with less adult supervision such as the playground, cafeteria, hallway, and buses. Students thought staff would respond to inappropriate behaviors by telling students to ignore verbal bullying or sexual harassment. In contrast, staff at the elementary schools thought adults would respond to inappropriate behaviors by telling the bully to stop, calling his or her parents, or giving a specific punishment.
The current study examined differences in appraisal, harassment, and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms among 105 Black women who were sexually harassed by either a White (cross-racial sexual harassment) or a Black man (intraracial sexual harassment). Analyses revealed that women appraised cross-racial more negatively than intraracial harassment, despite there being no significant differences in the likelihood of experiencing gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, or sexual coercion. Further, cross-racial harassment was more likely to include racialized sexual harassment (harassing behaviors combining race and gender simultaneously) and higher status perpetrators. Finally, cross-racial sexual harassment had an indirect (but not direct) mediated effect on posttraumatic stress via participants' appraisals of their harassment. Specifically, the more negative appraisal associated with cross-racial sexual harassment was associated with increased posttraumatic stress symptoms. In light of these findings, consideration of perpetrator race and racially sexualized behaviors could prove significant additions to current models of sexual harassment.
Correlates of use and subsequent sexual attitudes and behaviors predicted by exposure to sexually explicit content (i.e., pornography and erotica) in adult magazines, X-rated movies, and the Internet were examined in a prospective survey of a diverse sample of early adolescents (average age at baseline = 13.6 years; N = 967). Two-thirds (66%) of males and more than one-third (39%) of females had seen at least one form of sexually explicit media in the past year. At baseline, being black, being older, and having less-educated parents, lower socioeconomic status, and high need for sensation were related to greater exposure for both males and females. Longitudinal analyses showed that early exposure for males predicted less progressive gender role attitudes, more permissive sexual norms, sexual harassment perpetration, and having oral sex and sexual intercourse two years later. Early exposure for females predicted subsequently less progressive gender role attitudes, and having oral sex and sexual intercourse. Implications for healthy sexual socialization are discussed.
The goal of this study was to examine sexual harassment in early adolescence. Available data indicate that peer to peer sexual harassment is prevalent in high school and is associated with psychosocial problems for both victims and perpetrators. For the present study, we adopted a developmental contextual model to examine the possibility that this behavior develops during the late elementary and middle school years and is linked to the biological and social changes that occur at this time. Youths from Grades 6-8 (N = 1,213) enrolled in seven elementary and middle schools in a large south-central Canadian city were asked to report on their sexual harassment behaviors with same- and cross-gender peers; their pubertal development, and the gender composition of their peer network. The results revealed that cross-gender harassment was distinct from same-gender harassment, increased in frequency from Grade 6 to Grade 8, and was linked to pubertal maturation and participation in mixed-gender peer groups. The implications of a developmental contextual model for understanding the emergence of this problematic behavior in adolescence are discussed.
Using data from 3 samples of working women and men, the present study examines the association between sexual harassment and eating disorder symptoms by studying the processes that may underlie this relationship. The results of structural equation modeling suggest a link between sexual harassment and eating disorder symptoms among women and indicate that this relationship is mediated by psychological distress, self-esteem, and self-blame. Further, sexual harassment was found to predict eating disorder symptoms among women even when experiences of sexual assault were included in the model. No relationship was found between sexual harassment and eating disorder symptoms among men. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed.
Bullying and sexual harassment at school have received recent attention in developed countries; however, they have been neglected in Latin America. Thus, the authors investigated these phenomena among 400 Brazilian high school students from two high schools (one private and one public). Analyses using t-tests showed that boys bullied and sexually harassed their peers more often than girls did. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that boys and girls who scored high on general misconduct bullied their peers more often than those who scored low on general misconduct. Boys who believed they would be punished by their teachers for bullying and who scored low on benevolent sexism bullied more often than boys who believed they would not be punished by their teachers and who scored high on benevolent sexism. Moreover, bullying predicted peer sexual harassment for boys and girls. Recommendations to prevent bullying and sexual harassment are offered.
Using data from 3 samples of working women and men, the present study examines the association between sexual harassment and eating disorder symptoms by studying the processes that may underlie this relationship. The results of structural equation modeling suggest a link between sexual harassment and eating disorder symptoms among women and indicate that this relationship is mediated by psyhological distress, self-esteem, and self-blame. Further, sexual harassment was found to predict eating disorder symptoms among women even when experiences of sexual assault were included in the model. No relationship was found between sexual harassment and eating disorder symptoms among men. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed.
One thousand twenty-four African American and Latino sixth graders participated in a study examining the moderating role of pubertal development on the relation between peer victimization and adolescent self-worth, depressed mood, and physical symptoms using peer and self-reported victimization. It was hypothesized that early-maturing girls who were victimized would experience heightened internalized distress. Among boys, two competing hypotheses were tested: (a) the imbalance of power hypothesis predicted that late-maturing boys who were victimized would experience more psychological distress and (b) the social misfit hypothesis predicted that early-maturing victims would experience more distress. Results indicated that African American and Latino early-maturing boys and girls who were viewed as victims by their peers reported elevated depressed mood and physical symptoms and lower self-worth. The moderating role of early puberty was documented with reputational (peer report) measures of victimization rather than self-report measures, which highlights the social consequences of early maturation.
The present study examined the relationships among sexual harassment and body image and eating disturbances using a sample of 195 undergraduate women. Sexual harassment was associated with a variety of eating disorder symptoms, even when controlling for experiences of sexual abuse/assault and physical abuse. Whereas sexual abuse/assault and physical abuse appear to be nonspecific risk factors for such symptoms, sexual harassment was more closely associated with eating disorder symptomatology than other types of psychological distress. The results of structural equation modeling better supported a model in which body image and eating disturbances were outcomes rather than antecedents of sexual harassment. Finally, several analyses indicated that disordered eating may function as a way to cope with the negative emotions associated with sexual harassment.
Bullying, in the form of physically, verbally, relationally, or sexually aversive behaviors, increases as youngsters make the transition to middle school. To date, however, policy and research in education and educational psychology has attended only minimally to the social dynamics of school organization or peer groups that may underlie this crisis. We argue that a combination of school- and peer-level factors contribute to bullying, victimization, and sexual harassment. We suggest that adolescents' exploration of new social roles and their quest for status among peers are factors motivating aggression, especially as students make the transition from primary to middle school. More disturbing, and less studied, is the finding that adults in schools have a hand, either directly or indirectly, in perpetrating these acts. Suggestions for future research to guide policy are made.
This study uses the American Association of University Women 1993 survey on sexual harassment in America's schools, a national sample of high school students, to examine gender differences in the behavioral, emotional, and educational consequences of sexual harassment. Previous research indicates that a high percentage of both boys and girls experience sexual harassment and that the negative consequences are greater for girls. The authors use a feminist theoretical framework to show that girls' and boys' qualitatively different experiences account for part of this gender gap. Girls are far more likely to perceive harassment as harmful than boys and to experience a far greater frequency and severity of harassment. This article documents that girls are more likely to be targets of physical sexual harassment than boys and that physical harassment rather than derogatory or verbal and/or visual forms of harassment exacerbate the gender gap in educational outcomes.
In this multimethod, multiagent longitudinal study, boys' dominance was
studied as they made the transition from primary to middle school. A
cohort of boys was followed as they moved from fifth grade (mean age 10.1
years of age) through sixth grade (mean age 12.1 years of age). Consistent
with theory, dominance decreased as boys made the transition to a new
group; aggression initially increased from primary school to the start of
sixth grade and then decreased again at the end of the year. Additionally,
and consistent with theory, dominance had a significant aggressive, but
not affiliative, dimension at the start of sixth grade. By the end of
the year, dominance did not have a significant aggressive dimension but
did have a significant affiliative dimension. Last, both affiliative and
aggressive dimensions of dominance predicted heterosexual relationships
(i.e., dating) at the end of the sixth grade. Results are discussed in
terms of distal, evolutionary effects and proximal, peer group effects
on peer relations in adolescence.
Evidence suggests that adults in school settings are doing less than they should to stop student peer sexual harassment. When such behavior persists, it creates an intrusive environment that may interfere with learning. The study was designed to determine teachers' attitudes toward sexual harassment; their perceptions of sexually harassing student behaviors; how they would respond to these behaviors; and the influence of teachers' age, sex, sex role identity, and size of school on their attitudes, perceptions, and actions. The two hundred and seventy survey respondents represented 20 randomly selected high schools in a 20-county region of one southwestern state. The results show that the teachers were intolerant in their attitudes toward sexual harassment. They recognized student peer sexual harassment, particularly in its more severe forms, and indicated that they would take action to stop such behavior when it occurred. The teachers were relatively homogeneous in their attitudes toward and perceptions of sexual harassment. However, the set of four predictors, age, sex, sex-role identity, and size of school, did influence the actions teachers would take in response to peer harassment, particularly with regard to the most frequently chosen actions, report the behavior to the designated authority and tell the initiator to stop.
In Norwegian primary and secondary schools, approximately 5% of the pupils are bullied persistently, and about the same percentage of the pupils bully regularly. Three national programs to counteract bullying in schools are described and discussed. The first one was conducted in 1983, and the second one in 1996. A third, very comprehensive 3-year program is decided and will be started about 2000. The content of these national programs has changed gradually, from being rather bullying and intervention focused to being more preventive and comprehensive. Improvement of the school as an organisation and improved, general classroom management are two central aspects in the recent approach, which is supposed to have multiple effects. Also, the support system for the schools to implement and maintain a national program has developed, and it includes researchers, personnel from Educational Psychological School Services (EPSS) and headteachers in the forthcoming program. Research, which has promoted these changes in content and support system, is discussed. Aggr. Behav. 26:135–143, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Bullying and victimization were studied from a longitudinal, multi-method, multi-agent perspective as youngsters made the transition from primary through middle school. Generally, bullying and aggression increased with the transition to middle school and then declined. Bullying mediated youngsters' dominance status during the transition. Bullying may be one way in which young adolescents manage peer and dominance relationships as they make the transition into new social groups. Victimization declined from primary to secondary school. Correspondingly, youngsters' peer affiliations decreased, initially with the transition, and then recovered. Victimization, however, was buffered by peer affiliation, especially like most nominations relative to friendship nominations, during this time. Additionally, and consistent with the idea that bullying is used for dominance displays, cross-sex comparisons of aggressive bouts indicated that boys targeted other boys and did not target girls. Results are discussed in terms of the changing functions of aggression during adolescence.
This study examined the relationships among peer-to-peer sexual harassment, school climate, adult-to-student harassment, and outcomes (psychological and physical well-being; school withdrawal and safety) for high school girls (n= 310) and boys (n= 259) recruited from seven public high schools in a Midwestern state. More frequent, severe peer harassment was associated with being female; holding climate perceptions that one's school is tolerant of the harassment of girls; and experiencing more frequent, severe harassment by school personnel. The correlates associated with outcomes varied by outcome, with climate exerting a consistent influence on boys' outcomes. Girls' outcomes were associated with climate, harassment, or both. Findings suggest that more frequent, severe experiences of sexual harassment in the schools are associated with direct, negative effects on girls and indirect, negative effects on boys and girls through a school climate that tolerates the harassment of girls.
In this paper, we examined the forms and relationship contexts of bullying in adolescence. Using cross-sectional data, we assessed grade and sex differences in self-reports of bullying and sexually harassing peers, as well as reports of dating aggression from1896 students from early to late adolescence. Reports of bullying others were highest around the school transition, with lowest levels at the end of high school. Boys reported more bullying and sexual harassment than girls. Sexual harassment of same- and opposite-sex peers increased over the early adolescent years and leveled off in later high-school years. There were no sex differences in the prevalence of indirect or physical aggression with a dating partner. Adolescents who bullied were at increased risk for the other forms of relationship aggression. These data highlight bullying as a relationship problem and point to the need for prevention programs to curtail the use of power and aggression in adolescent relationships. Aggr. Behav. 32:376–384, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The present research explores risk factors for, and longitudinal associations of, sexual harassment by peers during adolescence. Eight-hundred and seventy-two African American and European American adolescents (65.4% African American, 51.1% females) were assessed during the summer after the eighth grade (mean age=14.2 years) and then again in the 11th grade (mean age=17.1 years). At the first assessment, adolescents were asked about their experiences with sexual harassment, their psychological reactions to sexual harassment, and also about their peer relationships, perceived pubertal timing, problem behavior, and mental health. At the second assessment, adolescents reported on their problem behavior and mental health. In general, youth who associated with peers who were involved in problem behavior were at risk for victimization. Among females, those who perceived themselves to be experiencing early pubertal development were also at risk. Additionally, for some adolescents, sexual harassment predicted later adjustment difficulties.
A survey of 458 early adolescents (87% White; 278 females and 280 males; Mage = 13) examined the interacting relationship between family environment and involvement with pop music, and attitudes toward sexual harassment, while also controlling for sex. Attitudes toward sexual harassment were assessed by an eight-item Likert-type scale constructed from common behavioral definitions of sexual harassment (reliability alpha = .89). Results indicated females held less accepting attitudes toward sexual harassment than males. Involvement with pop music was associated with acceptance of sexual harassment, especially for females. The combination of a high level of exposure to pop music videos, and being from an unsatisfactory or nonintact family, was strongly associated with acceptance of sexual harassment for females and less so for males. The findings of this study could have implications for the etiology of acceptance of other coercive behaviors among adults.
In her book Sexual Harassment of Working Women Catherine MacKinnon (1979) suggested that Trivialization of sexual harassment has been a major means through which its invisibility has been enforced. Humor, which may reflect unconscious hostility, has been a major form of that trivialization (p. 52). In other words, making jokes at women's expense and treating sexual harassment as not serious have contributed to its persistence. Situation comedies can be seen as gauges for what is considered humorous in American culture. To explore the tone of and mood toward sexual harassment in contemporary American society, themes and content of humorous material on 56 episodes of five workplace-based situation comedies were examined. Results showed that although sexual harassment is rarely discussed on situation comedies, gender harassment is frequently used as material, which leads to further trivialization of a serious social problem.
The psychological and educational consequences of sexual harassment for high school students were investigated in two studies. Both studies involved a modified survey originally designed for the American Association of University Women (1993). In Study 1, which involved 760 male and 779 female high school students (mainly 16- to 19-year-olds), we compared the behaviors and attitudes of (a) students who had recently been harassed and were upset by it, and (b) students who had not been harassed. Harassment led to several negative psychological and educational consequences rather than to a general stress reaction. Consequences varied with the type of harassment experienced. In Study 2, we surveyed 30 male and 67 female university students who were enrolled in a 1st year psychology course. We found that current doubt about romantic relations was associated with two types of harassment experienced during high school. Thus, some specific consequences of harassment might be long-lasting.
Three studies were conducted to develop and validate a measure of sexual harassment proclivities in males. Previous studies of sexual harassment were reviewed and a gap in the current knowledge of the psychological characteristics of sexual harassers was revealed. A possible technique for studying sexual harassment proclivities was suggested by recent research on rape proclivities. Two initial studies using this technique found (1) that the likelihood of sexually harassing can be reliably measured and 2) that this measure correlated with related attitude and belief measures. The third study demonstrated that the likelihood of sexual harassment measure can predict sexual behaviors in a laboratory setting.
Dimensions of peer sexual harassment in schools were analyzed with confirmatory factor analyses of data from a questionnaire
study of 980 Swedish high-school students. The factorial structures suggested in the literature on sexual harassment in the
workplace showed a bad fit to the student data, especially for boys. A nested structure, with one general factor and two specific
factors (closest to the hostile environment and sexual attention categories), appeared to offer the best fit-to-data for female
students. For male students, however, the structure was less clear, and the fit worse, but the presence of a general sexual
harassment factor was supported also there. No acceptable model common to boys and girls could be identified.
The period of early adolescence witnesses the onset of interest in heterosexual relationships. Prior to this period, youngsters spend much of their free time with same-sex peers. In the present longitudinal, multimethod study, two dimensions of heterosexual relationships were examined: cross-sex interaction and cross-sex aggression. We examined the extent to which youngsters interacted with peers of the opposite sex, as well as self-reported dating frequency. Cross-sex aggression was also examined. It was predicted that cross-sex interactions would increase with time and that youngsters would use playful strategies to initiate cross-sex interactions. Aggression was measured through self-report, direct observations, and adult completed checklists. It was predicted that both boys and girls would target opposite-sex peer for aggression. Lastly, a mediational model of sexual harassment was proposed whereby dating frequency in the middle of sixth grade would mediate the relation between bullying at the start of seventh grade and sexual harassment at the end of seventh grade. A sample of rural sixth and seventh grade students was studied across their first 2 years of middle school. Predictions were, for the most part, supported. Results are discussed in terms of the role of activity settings as specifying peer youngsters' interactions.
Objectified body consciousness (OBC)—the tendency to view one’s body as an object for others to look at and evaluate—is theorized to emerge during sexual maturation as adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, experience sexual objectification. Although OBC generally is discussed in developmental terms, research so far has examined primarily the experiences of undergraduates and adults. Our goal in this study was to examine early adolescent experiences with OBC and to explicitly test the idea that OBC is linked to experiences of sexual objectification, such as peer sexual
harassment, that early adolescents face as their bodies reach maturity. We tested several structural models of OBC and its relation to puberty, peer sexual harassment, and negative body experience. The prevailing model supported OBC theory’s premise that pubertal development and peer sexual harassment increase adolescent girls’ tendency toward self-surveillance, which in turn leads to greater body shame. Several pathways in the model were not significant for boys.
The current study describes longitudinal trends in sexual harassment by adolescent peers and highlights gender, pubertal status, attractiveness, and power as predictors of harassment victimization. At the end of 5th, 7th, and 9th grades, 242 adolescents completed questionnaires about sexual harassment victimization, pubertal status, and perceived power. Results indicate an increase in sexual harassment from 5th to 9th grade, with boys more likely to report harassment than girls in each grade. An analysis of harassment type indicated no gender difference in 9th grade cross-gender harassment, but boys received more same-gender harassment than girls. Pubertal status predicted concurrent sexual harassment victimization in each grade. Boys and girls with advanced pubertal status at all grades were more likely to be victims of 9th grade same-gender harassment. Adolescents with greater power at all grades were more likely to be victims of 9th grade cross-gender sexual harassment.
Mixed longitudinal data on the physical changes at puberty in 228 normal boys are presented together with normal standards for stages of genital and pubic hair development.The genitalia began to develop between the ages 9½ years and 13½ years in 95% of boys (mean = 11.6 ± 0.09) and reached maturity at ages varying between 13 and 17 (mean = 14.9 ± 1.10). The age at which pubic hair first appeared was not accurately determined, but its development through the later stages was studied. It reached the equivalent of an adult female distribution at a mean age of 15.2 ± 0.01 years.On average the genitalia reached the adult stage 3.0 years after they first began to develop; but some boys completed this development in as little as 1.8 years while others took as much as 4.7 years. Some boys complete the whole process in less time than others take to go from Stage G2 to Stage G3. The genitalia begin to develop before pubic hair is visible in photographs in practically all boys.The 41 boys in whom it could be studied reached their maximum rate of growth (peak height velocity) at a mean age of 14.1 ± 0.14 years.Very few boys (about 5%) reached peak height velocity before their genitalia were in Stage 4 and over 20% did not do so until their genitalia were adult. Peak height velocity is reached, on the average, nearly 2 years later in boys than in girls, but the boys' genitalia begin to develop only about 6 months later than the girls' breasts. Pubic hair appears about 1½ years later in boys than in girls.
Differences in attraction to same- and other-sex peers as a function of sex, age, individual characteristics (i.e., aggression), and context were examined in a longitudinal study of early adolescent boys and girls (N = 217) that covered the transition from elementary school (Time 1) to middle school (Times 2 and 3). Consistent with T. Moffitt's (1993) concept of the "maturity gap," attraction to aggressive peers, especially attraction to aggressive boys among girls, increased with age and upon entry to middle school, as did attraction to peers who stood out in the peer group in easily observable ways. Attraction to peers who presented features associated with good classroom-based behavior decreased. These patterns are discussed in terms of the developmental needs served by associating with particular peers.
Research on gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment informs an ongoing legal debate regarding the use of a reasonable person standard instead of a reasonable woman standard to evaluate sexual harassment claims. The authors report a meta-analysis of 62 studies of gender differences in harassment perceptions. An earlier quantitative review combined all types of social-sexual behaviors for a single meta-analysis; the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of the female-male difference varies by type of behavior. An overall standardized mean difference of 0.30 was found, suggesting that women perceive a broader range of social-sexual behaviors as harassing. However, the meta-analysis also found that the female-male difference was larger for behaviors that involve hostile work environment harassment, derogatory attitudes toward women, dating pressure, or physical sexual contact than sexual propositions or sexual coercion.
The goal was to describe the association between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in-service sexual harassment in a nationally representative sample of Department of Veterans Affairs PTSD disability applicants.
The study was a cross-sectional survey.
Of 4,918 eligible veterans, 3,337 (68%) returned surveys. Nonresponse bias appeared to be minimal. After adjustment for other reported traumas, women's reported in-service sexual harassment severity was significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity (p < 0.0001). The effect seen was about the same size as that seen for combat exposure among the men and for in-service sexual assault among the women. Men showed no association between in-service sexual harassment and PTSD (p = 0.33), although power was low for this test.
Sexual harassment significantly contributed to female veterans' PTSD symptoms; its contribution to men's symptoms was unclear. We discuss mechanisms through which sexual harassment might affect PTSD symptom severity, including the possibility that sexual harassment sometimes meets the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, definition of a criterion A stressor.
The study had three research aims: (1) to examine the current perception of female rape. Given recent changes in public awareness of female rape, it was predicted that respondents would conceptualize a typical female rape as an acquaintance rape rather than as the stranger rape stereotype; (2) to examine whether these perceptions differ according to respondents' gender; (3) to examine the 'cultural lag' theory of male rape, where it was hypothesized that if the public perception of male rape lags behind female rape, then a typical male rape will be conceptualized as the classic stranger rape stereotype. Findings showed that contrary to predictions, a typical female rape was conceptualized according to the stranger rape stereotype. It was also found that instead of lagging behind female rape along the stranger-acquaintance rape dimension, male rape was viewed predominantly in terms of 'other' factors (factors not found on the stranger-acquaintance dimension, e.g. victim/rapist sexual orientation, rapist calls victim names), which were erroneous, sexualizing and homophobic.
The expect respect project: Creating a positive elementary school climate
- M G Meraviglia
- H Becker
- B Rosenbluth
- E Sanchez
- T Robertson