Profiles in coping: responses to sexual harassment across persons, organizations, and cultures

This study explicates the complexity of sexual harassment coping behavior among 4 diverse samples of working women: (a) working-class Hispanic Americans, (b) working-class Anglo Americans, (c) professional Turks, and (d) professional Anglo Americans. K-means cluster analysis revealed 3 common harassment coping profiles: (a) detached, (b) avoidant negotiating, and (c) support seeking. The authors then tested an integrated framework of coping profile determinants, involving social power, stressor severity, social support, and culture. Analysis of variance, chi-square, and discriminant function results identified significant determinants at each of the 4 levels of this ecological model. These findings underscore the importance of focusing on whole patterns of experience--and considering influences at the level of the individual employee and multiple levels of the surrounding context--when studying how women cope with workplace sexual harassment.     

Hispanic perspectives on sexual harassment and social support

Bridging the social support, sexual victimization, and cultural psychology literatures, this study examines social-support processes in the context of sexual harassment and Hispanic American culture. Surveys were administered to a community sample of Hispanic American working women, 249 of whom described some encounter with sexual harassment at work. Regression results provided mixed backing for hypotheses about support-seeking behavior, which appeared largely dependent on the social power of the harassment perpetrator. Additional findings upheld predictions about support-perception patterns; harassed women perceived more supportive social reactions when they turned to informal networks of friends and family, but responses were less positive when they turned to formal, organizational sources. Finally, as expected, perceived support and acculturation interacted to moderate relations between sexual harassment and job satisfaction. The article concludes with implications for research and interventions related to social support and sexual harassment.     

Exploring Retaliation as a Coping Strategy in Response to Customer Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment has long been studied as a gendered form of discrimination and a way to assert social dominance. Women working in customer service positions regularly cope with customer sexual harassment (CSH). This paper reports two studies that examine retaliation toward the customer as a way for service workers to both assert power and to cope when faced with CSH. The first study predicted that retaliation would share a common superordinate factor structure with four traditional coping strategies (i.e., social, advocacy seeking, avoidance, and negotiation). The second study hypothesized a latent variable model in which retaliation serves as a buffer between CSH and posttraumatic stress. Additionally, customer power was hypothesized as an antecedent to CSH and retaliation. Both studies used samples of women undergraduate students who were employed at least 10 hours per week as customer service workers in the southeastern U.S. The first study (N?=?194) found support for the hypothesized factor structure; retaliation was related to, but distinguishable from more traditional styles of sexual harassment coping. The second study (N?=?210) found support for the proposed mediational model. Limitations and future directions for research are discussed.     

College Women��s Feminist Identity: A Multidimensional Analysis with Implications for Coping with Sexism

This study examined components of women's feminist identity and possible relations to their reported coping responses to sexism. A sample of 169 undergraduate women (M?=?19.4?y, SD?=?1.2) from diverse ethnic backgrounds completed surveys assessing their experiences and gender-related views. The first set of analyses revealed that women's social gender identity, exposure to feminism, and gender-egalitarian attitudes independently contributed to feminist identification; moreover, non-stereotyping of feminists further predicted feminist self-identification. A second set of analyses tested the relative contribution of feminist identity components to women's cognitive appraisals of coping responses to sexual harassment. Seeking social support was predicted by self-identification as a feminist (for White European American women only). Confronting was predicted by social gender identity, non-stereotyping of feminists, and public identification as a feminist. Findings highlight possible components of women's feminist identity and their possible impact on coping responses to sexism.     

The Incidence and Outcomes of Sexual Harassment Among Hispanic and Non–Hispanic White Women: A Comparison Across Levels Of Cultural Affiliation

An extensive body of literature has documented the widespread and damaging nature of sexual harassment among Anglo women, but little attention has focused on the experiences of women of color. The current paper begins to address this gap by comparing sexual harassment incidence rates and psychological and work–related outcomes of Hispanic and non–Hispanic White women across varying levels of cultural affiliation. Chi–square tests of association suggest that risk of harassment increases with affiliation to the mainstream U.S. culture, and hierarchical regression analyses suggest that cultural affiliation moderates the relation between sexual harassment and occupational functioning. These provocative findings are discussed in the context of social and economic vulnerability, socio–sexual norms, and cultural background.     

Sexual harassment experiences and equal opportunity perceptions of Navy women

In 1989, the Navy began tracking the sexual harassment rates among its officer and enlisted personnel by administering the Navy Equal Opportunity Sexual Harassment (NEOSH) Survey on a biennial basis. While previous reports on the results of the NEOSH Survey have discussed the occurrence, frequency, and effects of sexual harassment in the Navy [A. L. Culbertson, P. Rosenfeld, and C. E. Newell (1993) Sexual Harassment in the Active-Duty Navy: Findings from the Navy-Wide Survey (TR-94-2), San Diego, CA: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center], this study examines whether victims of sexual harassment differ in their perceptions of equal opportunity (EO) climate from those who have not been harassed. Data from the 1991 NEOSH Survey were reanalyzed. Sixty-seven percent of the women officers were White, 25% African-American, and 18% Hispanic. Of the women enlisted, 52% were White, 31% African-American, and 18% Hispanic. The results indicated that women who were sexually harassed perceived that there was less EO in the Navy than women who had not been harassed. This was true for both officer and enlisted personnel. In addition, specific organizational consequences of sexual harassment were identified.The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors, are not official and do not necessarily represent the views of the Navy Department.     

Victim Resistance: Theory and Data on Understanding Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

This article reports on a study of perceptions of sexual harassment when a victim offers verbal resistance, and introduces the theoretical application of the notion that women sometimes use token resistance to sexual attention. Perceptions of sexual harassment were examined based on a vignette in which physical or verbal harassment and victim's facial expression were varied. Participants were 337 undergraduates (91% European American, 5% African American, 1% Hispanic American, 1% Asian American). Perceptions of sexual harassment were stronger for physical harassment than verbal harassment, except when the target smiled. Overall, women had stronger perceptions of harassment than did men. Also, a stronger belief in women's use of token resistance to sex was associated with weaker perceptions of sexual harassment. These findings suggest that a number of factors influence perceptions of harassment, even when a victim verbally resists.     

Contrapower Sexual Harassment: A Survey of Students and Faculty Members

We conducted two studies to shed light on contrapower sexual harassment in an academic setting. In the first study, we surveyed a random sample of 158 college students (83.4% White) concerning their potentially sexually harassing behaviors toward professors, sexist attitudes toward women, and proclivities to harass sexually. Almost one third of the students reported having sexually harassed a professor at least once. Male students were more likely than female students to be the perpetrators. In the second study, all tenured and tenure-track faculty were mailed a survey; 209 professors (88.9% White) completed the survey concerning their experiences with sexual harassment from students as well as their coping responses, definitions of sexual harassment, and reactions to hypothetical scenarios. Over one half of the professors reported having been at least once sexually harassed by students. Although male and female professors experienced similar rates of sexual harassment from students, the psychological outcome was worse for women than for men. Male and female professors defined sexual harassment similarly. However, when more contextual information was provided in the hypothetical scenarios, several gender differences emerged. In addition, men and women used both internal and external coping responses to different types of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment as both a tool and a result of male dominance in society is discussed.     

Labeling sexual harassment in the military: an extension and replication

Research conducted by V. Magley, C. Hulin, L. F. Fitzgerald, and M. DeNardo (1999) has suggested that women who experience sexual harassment report worse outcomes independent of the labeling process. This study replicates and extends that work. Discriminant analyses were conducted on a sample of approximately 28,000 men and women from the military. The authors included variables similar to those used by V. Magley et al., as well as a variety of antecedent variables. Two significant functions were obtained from the discriminant analysis. The 1st function ordered groups according to the frequency of harassment and accounted for substantially more variance than did the 2nd function, which ordered groups according to whether they labeled their experiences as sexual harassment. The overall results from these analyses demonstrate that labeling incidents as sexual harassment is of marginal meaningfulness in terms of job outcomes and antecedents of harassment.     

Union Resources and Union Tolerance as Moderators of Relationships with Sexual Harassment

Union membership is often overlooked in organizational research, but is especially neglected in research on sexual harassment. This study investigated the impact of union resources for dealing with harassment and union tolerance for harassment on antecedents and consequences of harassment. Women union members (N = 242) of varying ethnicities (European American, 56.6%; mixed ethnicity, 15.7%; Native American, 9.9%; African American, 5.0%; Hispanic American, 1.2%; Asian American, 0.4%; non-American, 2.9%) responded to a survey. As predicted, Union Resources moderated the relationship between organizational tolerance for harassment and reported harassment, such that women in unions with more resources reported less harassment. Union Tolerance moderated the relationship between harassment and negative psychological outcomes, although not as predicted. Implications for unions, employers, and researchers are discussed.     

Sexual Harassment: A Preliminary Test of an Integrative Model1

Despite the recent increase in research on sexual harassment, most studies have examined the relevant variables in isolation, and little is known concerning the ways in which they may interact or the relative importance of their effects for individuals or organizations. Fitzgerald and her colleagues (Fitzgerald, Hulin, & Drasgow. 1995; Fitzgerald & Ormerod, 1993) proposed a model of the antecedents and outcomes of sexual harassment in organizations. The present study examines a modified version of this model using path analysis with a sample of women employed by the federal government in the late 1980s. These analyses support the basic form of the model, suggesting that sexual harassment is a joint function of the gender context of the victim's job, her relative vulnerability, and the tolerance of the organization for sexual harassment. In turn, harassment was shown to have a negative impact on work and health-related outcomes, exacerbated by assertive coping responses. The implications for organizations are discussed along with recommendations for more stringent tests of the model.     

Perceptions of Sexual Harassment as a Function of Target's Response Type and Observer's Sex

Although research has investigated definitionsand prevalence of sexual harassment, little is knownabout responses to sexual harassment. Therefore, thepresent study was designed to explore how individuals interpret the communication of various targetresponses. One hundred and twenty employees fromhealthcare settings were randomly assigned to one offour conditions. The majority of the individuals in the sample was White-European American (75%) whilethe remaining 25% was comprised of minority members. Theconditions contained a video-taped interaction betweentwo co-workers, one male and one female. The male's behavior in each interaction continuedto escalate to the point of sexual harassment while thefemale's responses varied. There were two passiveresponses and two assertive responses. After viewing the short video participants responded toquestions assessing their perceptions of theinteraction. Results indicated there were no differencesin perceptions between men and women when viewing thevarious conditions. There were, however, differencesfound between the assertive conditions and the passiveconditions. Specifically, assertive responses areperceived as more effective than passive responses in communicating unwelcomeness and in deterringthe initiator's persistence. However, consistent withthe research on responses to sexual harassment,perceptions of sexual harassment appear to be based more on the initiator's behavior than on thetarget's responses.     

The Impact of the Proportion of Women in One's Workgroup,Profession, and Friendship Circle on Males' and Females' Responses to Sexual Harassment

This study investigated the role of different gender contexts, gender, and their interactions on responses to sexual harassment using a sample of 213 professionals. Responses to sexual attention were better predicted than were gender harassment responses. The proportion of female friends was positively related to confronting harassers and formally reporting, the proportion of females in one's field was negatively related to formally reporting, and the proportion of female coworkers was negatively related to seeking legal counsel. Men were more likely to formally report and more likely to seek legal counsel, but unexpectedly, less likely to confront harassers. The proportion of women in one's field and friendship circle had a stronger impact on females' responses to harassment, but the proportion of women in one's workgroup had a stronger impact on males' responses. Results are discussed in light of sex roles and ethical decision-making theory.     

The Psychological Impact of Sexual Harassment on Women in the U.S. Military

The purpose of this research is to study the prevalence, dimensions, and correlates of psychological harm that women experience as the result of sexual harassment in the workplace. I employed data collected from a worldwide survey of sexual harassment in the active-duty U.S. military. The scientifically selected sample included over 10,000 working military women. Four general types of negative psychosocial reactions were identified among victims of sexual harassment: productivity problems, attitudes toward the organization, emotional reactions, and relations with family. Analyses explored the relations of these psychosocial reactions to (a) characteristics of the harassing behavior (what happened and who did it), (b) characteristics of the victim, (c) characteristics of the organizational climate in which the harassment took place, and (d) the victim's coping responses.     

PREDICTORS OF RESPONSES TO UNWANTED SEXUAL ATTENTION

Data were collected from 4,011 male and female university students, faculty, and staff regarding responses to unwanted sexual attention. Women and undergraduate students reported the highest incidence of unwanted sexual attention; most harassers were peers. Ignoring the behavior was the most common response, followed by avoiding the harasser and talking to others about the harassment. Harassment severity was the strongest predictor of responses, with more direct responses being made to more severe harassment. Bivariate correlational analyses suggested that unwanted sexual attention was rated as more distressing by women than by men, by faculty/staff than by students, by individuals with less tolerant attitudes toward harassment, and when the harasser was in a position of authority or when the harassment was of longer duration. In path analyses, only the relations between attitudes and responses were mediated by differences in perceived severity. The gender and status (i.e., student vs. faculty/staff) of the harassee, the duration of the harassment, and whether the harasser was in a position of authority had direct effects on responses not attributable to perceived severity. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Do Appearance Focused Cognitive Distortions Moderate the Relationship between Social Comparisons to Peers and Media Images and Body Image Disturbance?

The research questions addressed gender differences in the subjective appraisal of teens experiencing sexual harassment, and the psychosocial maturation of male and female teens appraising such events as threatening to their well-being. Using survey methodology, U.S. undergraduate women (n?=?316; 85% White Caucasian) and men (n?=?270; 85% White Caucasian) reported on their earliest formal work experiences (participants?? average age was M?=?19.03, SD?=?1.87). Results indicated that women, more than men, were more upset by, and were more likely to label an event as, sexual harassment. Results further demonstrated that men, particularly men who appraised harassment as bothersome and relied on behavioral coping, reported detriment to maturity outcomes of autonomy and social responsibility. Implications for a ??wimpy male?? hypothesis are discussed.     

Simple and Joint Effects of Gender and Self-Esteem on Responses to Same-Sex Sexual Harassment

In a sample of 431 white-collar professionals, we examined the impact of gender and self-esteem on individuals' intentions to seek legal counsel, confront the harasser, and make formal reports within the organization in response to approach-based same-sex sexual harassment. We hypothesized that gender, self-esteem, and their interaction would be related to assertive responses. All three hypotheses received support: men were more likely than women to respond assertively; self-esteem was positively related to response intentions; and self-esteem had a greater impact on men's responses than on women's responses. These results suggest that frameworks used to describe responses to cross-sex sexual harassment may not be adequate for same-sex sexual harassment. Post hoc analyses revealed that perceiving the behavior as harassment mediated the relationship between self-esteem and the responses to harassment, but did not mediate the relationships between gender and the responses to harassment. These findings contribute to the research on acknowledging sexual harassment.     

Tolerance of Sexual Harassment: An Examination of Gender Differences,Ambivalent Sexism,Social Dominance,and Gender Roles

In this study we examined the effects of gender, gender roles (masculinity and femininity), ambivalent sexism, and social dominance orientation with regard to tolerance of sexual harassment. It was predicted that women would be less tolerant than men of sexual harassment, however, men and women who were tolerant of sexual harassment would share ambivalence and hostility toward women, and they would exhibit higher levels of social dominance and masculinity. Results partially supported the hypotheses. Women were significantly less tolerant of harassment than men were, however, regression analyses showed that ambivalent sexism and hostility toward women accounted for the majority of total variance (35%), followed by gender (5%), social dominance (1%), femininity (0.7%), and nonsexism (0.6%). Masculinity and benevolent sexism were not significant predictors. Results suggest that ambivalence and hostility toward women are much greater predictors of tolerance of sexual harassment than is gender alone.     

LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF DISPOSITIONAL INFLUENCES AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT: EFFECTS ON JOB AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES

Research consistently demonstrates that sexual harassment is related to a variety of negative outcomes. Negative outcomes, however, may be influenced by respondents' dispositions or response biases rather than by their sexual harassment experiences alone. This study investigates relationships between negative outcomes and sexual harassment over time in an attempt to assess this possibility. Further, little empirical research on sexual harassment has explored the impact of various coping strategies on experiences of harassment over time. Sexual harassment experiences, job-related and psychological outcomes, and coping responses were obtained from 216 female faculty and staff members at a midwestern university at 2 times, 24 months apart. Patterns of results suggests that sexual harassment has important effects on job-related and psychological outcomes that operate independently of dispositional influences or response biases. Results also indicate that sexual harassment at Time 1 is a better predictor of harassment at Time 2 than are coping strategies.