The Effects of Delayed Report and Motive for Reporting on Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

We examined whether the timing of the report and the victim's apparent motive for reporting influences women's and men's perceptions of sexual harassment. Undergraduates (153 women, 149 men) listened to 1 of 6 versions of audiotaped testimony of the victim and defendant. The report was filed either immediately or 18 months later, and motive either was presented as altruistic, retaliatory, or was not specified. Participants chose a verdict, rated the defendant's guilt, and rated the defendant and victim on several dimensions. Higher guilt ratings, more positive evaluations of the victim, and more negative evaluations of the defendant were associated with immediate reporting and an altruistic motive, although women weighed these factors more heavily than did men.     

Personality and the Likelihood to Sexually Harass

To identify personality traits associated with sexual harassment proclivities, scales that measure the Likelihood to Sexually Harass (LSH) and personality traits were administered to 150 respondents. Peer reports of personality were also obtained from respondents' acquaintances. The Big Five factors and a newly suggested major dimension of personality, named Honesty–Humility, were measured to represent respondents' personalities. Two major findings were obtained. First, as predicted, Honesty–Humility was more strongly associated with sexual harassment proclivities than were any of the Big Five, within both self- and peer reports. Second, among the Big Five, only peer-reported Intellect/Imagination (i.e., Openness to Experience) contributed to the prediction of LSH independently of Honesty–Humility. The importance of using an optimal framework of personality structure was discussed.     

大学新生生活困扰的初步研究

本研究尝试对大学新生的生活困扰问题做一个初步的调查。在广州市某大学新生入学的第一学期末对 2 97名新生用大学新生适应量表进行了测试。结果发现 :( 1 )大学新生的生活困扰涉及人际关系、专业与职业期望、独立生活、资源信息利用和学习等五大方面。 ( 2 )平均而言 ,大学新生明显感到困扰的三个方面依次是资源信息利用、人际关系和学习方面 ;而在专业与职业期望和独立生活两个方面没有感到明显的困扰。 ( 3 )在上述新生生活困扰的五个方面没有发现显著的性别差异。结论 :大学新生的生活困扰问题值得引起足够的重视 ,应该有针对性地采取一些干预措施。     

Violence against women: is psychology part of the problem or the solution? A content analysis of psychological research from 1990 through 1999

Previous critiques of traditional psychology portrayed a discipline that examines social problems from an exceptionalistic perspective and decontextualizes the subjects of its inquiries. We analysed 10 years of psychological research on domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment to determine whether this criticism applied to violence against women research. Specifically, we examined the purpose, level of analysis, sample, and context of 1396 PsychLit abstracts. We found that almost half reported an examination of causal factors. Only one quarter reported intervention studies. Most studies focused at the individual level of analysis and few included contextual factors. Investigators explored questions about domestic violence most frequently among samples of victims and perpetrators drawn from clinical settings. Sexual assault and sexual harassment researchers depended on victims and perpetrators to a lesser extent, but tended to rely upon convenience samples from college settings. Representative community samples were used in only 9% of studies. These findings support the view that psychological research on violence against women suffers from a heavy emphasis on exceptionalism at the expense of a universalistic perspective, the latter of which we contend is critical to advancing the field and reducing a major threat to women's health and wellbeing. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preventing Teen Relationship Abuse and Sexual Assault through Bystander Training: Intervention Outcomes for School Personnel

The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of exposure to Bringing in the Bystander—High School Curriculum (BITB-HSC) on school personnel, which included a seven session classroom curriculum for ninth through twelfth graders (student curriculum), a bystander training workshop for school personnel (school personnel workshop), and reading materials (handout). We examined how exposure to these various BITB-HSC intervention components was associated with school personnel's knowledge and bystander efficacy, intentions, and barriers specific to student relationship abuse (RA) and sexual assault (SA). Participants were 488 school personnel from 12 high schools in upper New England who completed the 4-month follow-up survey that assessed for intervention exposure (284 participants completed both the baseline and follow-up survey). Whereas 53% of participants were exposed to no intervention components, the other half of the sample were exposed to a combination of intervention components. Higher baseline knowledge and reactive bystander intentions were associated with subsequent exposure to both the student curriculum and the handout, and fewer barriers to bystander action predicted exposure to the school personnel workshop. Exposure to the school personnel workshop, student curriculum, and handout was associated with subsequent greater knowledge, exposure to the student curriculum predicted reactive bystander intentions, and exposure to the handout predicted higher reactive bystander intentions and bystander efficacy. Findings suggest that despite challenges with engagement, exposure to the BITB-HSC components may be a useful tool in improving school personnel's responses to RA and SA among high school students.     

Investigating sexual harassment in online video games: How personality and context factors are related to toxic sexual behaviors against fellow players

Online video games are social spaces for players from around the world. They use this space to form communities, relationships, and identities. However, gaming communities are not always welcoming, and some are even perceived as being “toxic.” A prevalent issue is online sexual harassment, which is keeping many women from participating in the gaming community. Research on the factors contributing to the problem is limited, though. The present study replicates and expands previous research, using a sample of 856 online gamers. The study supports earlier findings that found hostile sexism and social dominance orientation as predictors of sexual harassment perpetration in online video games. In addition, we expanded the previous research with additional predictors: machiavellianism, psychopathy, and gamer identification predicted higher sexual harassment perpetration. Our results have implications for the gaming community's role in curtailing sexual harassment and making itself a more inclusive community.     

Young homeless drug users—ways of coping with harassment

This paper explores young homeless drug users' ways of coping with harassment. Discussions of coping and harassment are based on the cognitive appraisal model. Coping accounts were essentially problem‐focused and action‐oriented. Results indicate the need for more policy developments to prevent homelessness and for specific interventions around homelessness and harassment. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of homophobic name‐calling and verbal sexual harassment on substance use among young adults

Verbal aggression victimization, such as homophobic name‐calling, has been linked to heavier substance use among young people, but little longitudinal research has examined how different types of victimization may affect substance use or whether certain psychosocial factors moderate these risks. In a diverse cohort (N = 2,663), latent transition analysis was used to model heterogeneity in victimization (age 19) and substance use (age 20). Four victimization (high victimization, homophobic name‐calling only, verbal sexual harassment only, and low victimization) and three substance use (poly‐substance use, alcohol, and cannabis only, low all) classes were identified. The high victimization and homophobic name‐calling only classes had the highest probabilities of transitioning into the poly‐substance use class, and the high victimization class had the highest probability of transitioning into the alcohol and cannabis only class. The probability of transitioning into the low all substance use class was highest in the low victimization class and lowest in the high victimization class. For the high victimization class, greater depressive symptoms increased the odds, and better peer relationship quality decreased the odds, of transitioning into the poly‐substance use and alcohol and cannabis only classes. For the homophobic name‐calling only class, greater depressive symptoms increased the odds of transitioning into the poly‐substance use class. Homophobic name‐calling, alone or in combination with verbal sexual harassment, is a risk factor for escalating substance use in young adulthood, especially among victims with depressive symptoms.     

The Impact of Criminalization of Stalking on Italian Students: Adherence to Stalking Myths

Although behaviors that we today identify as stalking have occurred throughout history, the recognition and systematic investigation of stalking are quite recent. Italy’s antistalking law is fairly new, and factors such as cultural myths, stereotypical beliefs, and definitional ambiguities continue to cause problems in the interpretation and recognition of stalking among the general public. This study examined perceptions and attitudes of 2 groups of Italian criminology students at 2 different times, before and after the implementation of Italy’s 2009 antistalking law. The Stalking Attitudes Questionnaire (McKeon, Ogloff, & Mullen, 2009) was administered to samples in 2007 and 2010. Results revealed significant changes in some beliefs and attitudes between the pre- and post-assessments. Interpretation suggests that the combination of Italian antistalking legislation and increased attention to research seem to have decreased students’ adherence to stalking myths.     

Is that a “No”? The Interpretation of Responses to Unwanted Sexual Attention

In this study, we used an interactive perspective to address the issue of responses to sexual harassment. We examined the effect of the consistency across time, consistency across types of advances, and assertiveness of a rejecting response on its perceived effectiveness. Participants were presented with scenarios that described responses to unwanted sexual attention and were required to rate the effectiveness of the responses for their clarity, content, and estimated effect on the future behavior of the perpetrator. The results show significant effects of consistency across time, consistency across types of advances, and assertiveness on perceived effectiveness of the response. As expected, an assertive response that was consistent across time and types of advances was perceived to be the most effective. This effect was found to be stronger for women than for men.