Representing Blissymbols with a Young Child

This article describes a comparison of pencil embellishment cued, versus picture cued learning, in lhe establishment of an initial Blissymbol vocabulary. The design of the study followed N = 1 time series principles. The single subject represented an analog developmentally young individual. She was 2 years 10 months old at the commencement of the study and on a range of cognitive scales was of average ability. Within its restricted parameters, the study indicated superiority of pencil embellishment over pictures as simultaneous learning aids. Various speculative conclusions based on these findings are drawn.     

Using latent class analysis to identify aggressors and victims of peer harassment

This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify and classify individuals into aggressor and victim latent classes. Participants were over 2,000 sixth grade students who completed peer nomination procedures that identified students who had reputations as perpetrators and/or victims of physical, verbal, or relational harassment. Results showed five latent classes. Consistent with previous research, LCA identified latent classes of victims, aggressors, and socially adjusted students. However, rather than a single aggressive-victim subgroup, LCA identified latent classes of highly-victimized aggressive-victims and highly-aggressive aggressive-victims. Comparisons showed differences in mean profiles and classification criteria between LCA and traditional dichotomization approaches. Adjustment outcomes showed that highly-victimized aggressive-victims generally experienced greater negative psychological and social adjustment outcomes than highly-aggressive aggressive-victims. Implications of these findings for better assessment of victim and aggressor subgroups were discussed.     

Sexual Harassment of Adolescents Perpetrated by Teachers and by Peers: An Exploration of the Dynamics of Power, Culture, and Gender in Secondary Schools

The purpose of this study was to explore and compare the similarities and disparities between sexual harassment of students that is perpetrated by teachers and by peers. The study involved 2,808 randomly selected adolescents at 22 secondary schools from two regions in the Netherlands. The sample comprised 14- and 15-year-old students (55% girls and 45% boys). The majority of the students' parents were born in the Netherlands (86%); 14% were born outside the Netherlands (Morocco, Turkey, and Surinam). The data revealed important differences between peer sexual harassment and sexual harassment perpetrated by teachers. Unwanted sexual behavior by peers is a cultural phenomenon that occurs in public areas. The relatively low incidence of unwanted sexual behavior (18%), however, does not fully reflect the Culture Model. Sexual harassment by teachers is a particularly detrimental experience for adolescents, and health-related problems are therefore reported in higher numbers. Contrary to the assumptions of the Power Model, sexual harassment perpetrated by teachers is not incidental (27%) and does not only occur in secluded places.     

Assessing Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Behaviors in a Manufacturing Environment

This pilot study, conducted in a manufacturing plant, investigated employee perceptions of the behaviors of supervisors and co-workers that constitute quid pro quo and hostile work environment sexual harassment. Responses indicated that the majority of employees can accurately identify behaviors that are frequently associated with quid pro quo harassment, but cannot identify behaviors that are used to establish evidence of a hostile work environment. Comparisons of employees' scores demonstrated that male workers, relative to female workers, were more frequently accurate in identifying behaviors of both supervisors and co-workers that constitute sexual harassment. Perceptions of harassment varied according to job classification. Women in white-collar jobs were significantly more knowledgeable about what behaviors constitute sexual harassment than women in blue-collar jobs.     

Relationships between exposure to bullying at work and psychological and psychosomatic health complaints: the role of state negative affectivity and generalized self-efficacy

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between exposure to behaviors identified as workplace bullying and self-report measurements of psychological and psychosomatic health complaints. Secondly, we investigated whether these relationships were mediated by the state negative affectivity of the victim. Thirdly, we investigated the extent to which generalized self-efficacy moderated the relationships between exposure to bullying behaviors and health complaints. Two hundred and twenty-four white- and blue-collar employees from a Danish manufacturing company participated in the study. Exposure to bullying behaviors was associated with an increase in psychological health complaints, increased levels of psychosomatic complaints and an elevated level of state negative affectivity. Whereas bullying by itself accounted for 27% of the variance in psychological health complaints and 10% of the variance in psychosomatic complaints, the results pointed to state negative affectivity as a partial mediator of the relationships between exposure to bullying behaviors and both measures of self-reported health. Though not directly related to reported exposure to bullying behaviors, generalized self-efficacy seemed to act as a moderator of the relationship between exposure to bullying behaviors and psychological health complaints.     

The Continuation of Perpetrator Behaviors that Influence Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

This study was designed to investigate sexual harassment perceptions based on continuation of unwanted sexual attention following victim resistance. Participants were 504 undergraduates who responded to statements regarding a sexual harassment scenario, in which the perpetrator continued or discontinued attention, which varied in severity according to nonphysical, physical, or restraint contact. Results showed that continued attention and any type of physical contact strengthened harassment perceptions, although men’s perceptions were weaker unless restraint was present. No sex differences were observed in the restraint condition. Women had stronger perceptions than men did in the physical condition, but showed a non-significant trend toward stronger perceptions in the nonphysical condition. Findings suggest that continuation following resistance may clarify for observers that harassment is occurring. Conceptualizations of harassment severity are suggested.     

Aggression among university employees

Harassment among university employees (n = 338; 162 males, 176 females) was investigated by help of the Work Harassment Scale (WHS), developed for the study. Nineteen cases of severe victimization by harassment were interviewed. Subjectively experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety were estimated with two subscales form SCL-90 [Derogatis LR, Lipman RS, Covi L (1973): Psychopharmacology Bulletin 9: 13-28] and aggressiveness was measured with the Buss-Durkee Inventory [Buss A, Durkee A (1957): Journal of Consulting Psychology 21: 343–349]. Females experienced themselves as significantly more harassed than men. Position was related to harassment: individuals in superior positions harassed more often than individuals in subordinate positions. Less victimization by harassment was experienced among individuals involved in research and teaching than among individuals involved in administration and service. The experienced reasons for harassment were predominantly envy and competition about jobs and status. In 25% of cases, victims felt that their sex might be a reason. Victims of harassment experienced higher levels of depression, anxiety, and aggression than others. The interviewed cases showed evidence of symptoms reminiscent of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Pathways to false allegations of sexual harassment

A sexual harassment allegation is either true or false. Whether specific allegations are true or false is important to questions of epidemiology, clinical diagnosis and treatment, administrative and legal proceedings, as well as the welfare of actual victims and innocent alleged perpetrators. It is naïve and harmful to operate with the heuristic: ‘All claims are true’. However, the truth of many allegations is very difficult to determine, particularly as is often the case when there are no witnesses, no conclusive hard evidence, and the presence of a situation where both parties have divergent accounts of the alleged occurrence. There has been little theoretical or empirical work on what would cause a person to make a false allegation of sexual harassment. This paper gives an overview of the intricacies associated with sexual harassment investigations and enumerates 14 possible pathways to false allegations: lying; borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, psychosis, gender prejudice, substance abuse, dementia, false memories, false interpretations, biased interviews, sociopathy, personality disorders not otherwise specified, investigative mistakes, and mistakes in determination of the degree of harassment. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flirting With Disaster: Short‐Term Mating Orientation and Hostile Sexism Predict Different Types of Sexual Harassment

We combine evolutionary and sociocultural accounts of sexual harassment, proposing that sexuality‐related and hostility‐related motives lead to different types of harassment. Specifically, men's short‐term mating orientation (STMO) was hypothesized to predict only unwanted sexual attention but not gender harassment, whereas men's hostile sexism (HS) was hypothesized to predict both unwanted sexual attention and gender harassment. As part of an alleged computer‐chat task, 100 male students could send sexualized personal remarks (representing unwanted sexual attention), sexist jokes (representing gender harassment), or nonharassing material to an attractive female target. Independently, participants’ STMO, HS, and sexual harassment myth acceptance (SHMA) were assessed. Correlational and path analyses revealed that STMO specifically predicted unwanted sexual attention, whereas HS predicted both unwanted sexual attention and gender harassment. Furthermore, SHMA fully mediated the effect of HS on gender harassment, but did not mediate effects of STMO or HS on unwanted sexual attention. Results are discussed in relation to motivational explanations for sexual harassment and antiharassment interventions. Aggr. Behav. 38:521‐531, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.