Gender differences in experiences of sexual harassment: Data from a male-dominated environment.

The goal of this investigation was to examine gender differences in experiences of sexual harassment during military service and the negative mental health symptoms associated with these experiences. Female (n = 2,319) and male (n = 1,627) former reservists were surveyed about sexual harassment during their military service and current mental health symptoms. As expected, women reported a higher frequency of sexual harassment. Further, women had increased odds of experiencing all subtypes of sexual harassment. Being female conferred the greatest risk for experiencing the most serious forms of harassment. For both men and women, sexual harassment was associated with more negative current mental health. However, at higher levels of harassment, associations with some negative mental health symptoms were stronger for men than women. Although preliminary, the results of this investigation suggest that although women are harassed more frequently than men, clinicians must increase their awareness of the potential for sexual harassment among men in order to provide the best possible care to all victims of harassment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Female veterans' use of Department of Veterans Affairs health care services

OBJECTIVES: As access of women to mental health services has become increasingly important, empirical research has begun to examine the determinants of mental health care utilization across gender. This article examines the effect of being an extreme minority on utilization of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health services by female veterans. METHODS: Data were collected on a representative national sample of veterans in 1992 as part of the National Survey of Veterans. These data included information on sociodemographic variables, military service variables, physical health and disability, and health services utilization. The authors examined whether women who used health services in 1992, and who were eligible for VA care, differed from men on the likelihood of using any VA health services and on the likelihood of use of VA outpatient and inpatient health services. In addition, we compared VA health care utilization among subgroups of veterans with physical and mental disorders, and compared self-reported reasons for choice of health care provider, across gender. RESULTS: Results indicated that female veterans were less likely than male veterans to use VA health services. This difference was explained by lower utilization by women of VA outpatient services, since inpatient admission rates were the same across gender. The lower outpatient utilization was specific to women with self-reported mental disorders. Women with physical conditions did not differ from men with similar conditions in their VA outpatient utilization. Finally, men and women did not differ on their reasons for choosing VA or non-VA care. CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that extreme gender minority status appears to affect outpatient utilization rates at the VA among women with mental disorders, perhaps because of the more personal or sensitive nature of the services involved. Further research is needed to understand why certain women may be underutilizing VA outpatient services and on the consequences of minority gender status for health service utilization, more generally.     

Minority stress and mental health among Dutch LGBs: Examination of differences between sex and sexual orientation.

Minority stress is often cited as an explanation for greater mental health problems among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals than heterosexual individuals. However, studies focusing on sex or sexual orientation differences in level of minority stress and its impact on mental health are scarce, even more so outside the United States. Performing secondary analyses on the data of a Dutch population study on sexual health, the present study examines the robustness of the minority stress model by explaining mental health problems among men and women with mostly or only same-sex sexual attraction, and men and women who are equally attracted to same-sex and opposite-sex partners in the “gay-friendly” Netherlands (N = 389; 118 gay men, 40 bisexual men, 184 lesbian women, and 54 bisexual women). Results showed that minority stress is also related to mental health of Dutch LGBs. Participants with a higher level of internalized homonegativity and those who more often encountered negative reactions from other people on their same-sex sexual attraction reported more mental health problems. Such negative reactions from others, however, had a stronger link with mental health among lesbian/gay than among bisexual participants. Openness about one's sexual orientation was related to better mental health among sexual minority women, but not among their male counterparts. Suggestions for future research, implications for counseling, and other societal interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing victim attributions and outcomes for workplace aggression and sexual harassment.

In 2 studies, we investigated victim attributions (Study 1) and outcomes (Study 2) for workplace aggression and sexual harassment. Drawing on social categorization theory, we argue that victims of workplace aggression and sexual harassment may make different attributions about their mistreatment. In Study 1, we investigated victim attributions in an experimental study. We hypothesized that victims of sexual harassment are more likely than victims of workplace aggression to depersonalize their mistreatment and attribute blame to the perpetrator or the perpetrator's attitudes toward their gender. In contrast, victims of workplace aggression are more likely than victims of sexual harassment to personalize the mistreatment and make internal attributions. Results supported our hypotheses. On the basis of differential attributions for these 2 types of mistreatment, we argue that victims of workplace aggression may experience stronger adverse outcomes than victims of sexual harassment. In Study 2, we compared meta-analytically the attitudinal, behavioral, and health outcomes of workplace aggression and sexual harassment. Negative outcomes of workplace aggression were stronger in magnitude than those of sexual harassment for 6 of the 8 outcome variables. Implications and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in combat-related stressors and their association with postdeployment mental health in a nationally representative sample of U.S. OEF/OIF veterans.

Though the broader literature suggests that women may be more vulnerable to the effects of trauma exposure, most available studies on combat trauma have relied on samples in which women's combat exposure is limited and analyses that do not directly address gender differences in associations between combat exposure and postdeployment mental health. Female service members' increased exposure to combat in Afghanistan and Iraq provides a unique opportunity to evaluate gender differences in different dimensions of combat-related stress and associated consequence for postdeployment mental health. The current study addressed these research questions in a representative sample of female and male U.S. veterans who had returned from deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq within the previous year. As expected, women reported slightly less exposure than men to most combat-related stressors, but higher exposure to other stressors (i.e., prior life stress, deployment sexual harassment). No gender differences were observed in reports of perceived threat in the war zone. Though it was hypothesized that combat-related stressors would demonstrate stronger negative associations with postdeployment mental health for women, only one of 16 stressor × gender interactions achieved statistical significance and an evaluation of the clinical significance of these interactions revealed that effects were trivial. Results suggest that female Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom service members may be as resilient to combat-related stress as men. Future research is needed to evaluate gender differences in the longer-term effects of combat exposure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Workplace harassment, services utilization, and drinking outcomes.

Given the negative outcomes associated with sexual harassment (SH) and generalized nonsexual workplace harassment (GWH), this study examines the relationship between SH and GWH and help-seeking behavior in a sample of 2,038 university employees. Employees who experienced SH or GWH were more likely to report having sought mental health or health services to deal with workplace issues, compared with those who did not experience SH or GWM, controlling for job stress and prior services use. Women experiencing GWH were more likely to use services than men, but the same was not true for SH. Men experiencing SH who sought services exhibited higher levels of some alcohol outcomes, contrary to expectations. Implications for workplace interventions and for service providers are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Somatic symptoms, social support, and treatment seeking among sexual assault victims.

In an effort to clarify the relationship between the experience of sexual assault and physical health, rape victims and a matched comparison group were repeatedly assessed for somatic symptoms, psychological distress, health care use, and self-rated health perceptions during the year immediately after the assault. Women who experienced sexual assault reported more somatic complaints, poorer perceptions of physical health, greater psychological distress, and increased use of medical services. However, victims did not show a significantly higher use of mental health services and continued to seek medical attention at the end of the year after the assault, when health perceptions and somatic symptoms were no longer significantly elevated. The use of mental health services and social support as moderating variables are examined, and implications for the medical and psychological treatment of sexual assault victims are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnicity, desirable responding, and self-reports of abuse: A comparison of European- and Asian-ancestry undergraduates.

One thousand fifty-two (582 non-Asian, 470 Asian) university students were assessed regarding levels of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and socially desirable responding. Differences between Asian-ancestry and European-ancestry students in self-reported incidence and expression of abuse were evaluated, as was gender and the relation between self-reported abuse and socially desirable responding. Asian-ancestry men and women reported higher levels of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect than did their Euro-ancestry counterparts, and Euro-ancestry women reported a higher incidence of sexual abuse than did Asian-ancestry women. Across ethnicity, men reported higher levels of physical abuse and neglect but lower levels of sexual abuse than did women. Socially desirable responding was not related to measures of abuse. Findings are discussed in terms of cultural influences on child-rearing and disciplinary practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexuality and the commission of physical violence to partners and non-partners by men and women.

In 2 studies of physical violence and sexuality among college students, more than 75% of men and more than 60% of women reported committing physical violence in the past year, including more women to partners and more men to non-partners. More than 90% of men who committed violence to partners were also violent to non-partners. In Study 1, among 193 men and 203 women, people who committed violence had higher scores on sexual depression and general depression than did people who were not violent. People violent to non-partners had more sexual preoccupation and more alcohol use problems than did other people. In Study 2, among 160 college men and 138 college women, people in 4 violence groups did not differ in total sexual fantasies or sexual functioning. The findings support the importance of differentiating between violence toward partners and toward non-partners among both men and women and suggest a role of depression in partner violence and antisocial features in violence toward non-partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Workplace harassment: Double jeopardy for minority women.

To date there have been no studies of how both sex and ethnicity might affect the incidence of both sexual and ethnic harassment at work. This article represents an effort to fill this gap. Data from employees at 5 organizations were used to test whether minority women are subject to double jeopardy at work, experiencing the most harassment because they are both women and members of a minority group. The results supported this prediction. Women experienced more sexual harassment than men, minorities experienced more ethnic harassment than Whites, and minority women experienced more harassment overall than majority men, minority men, and majority women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in partner violence in a birth cohort of 21-year-olds: Bridging the gap between clinical and epidemiological approaches.

This study describes partner violence in a representative sample of young adults. Physical violence perpetration was reported by 37.2% of women and 21.8% of men. Correlates of involvement in severe physical violence differed by gender. Severe physical violence was more strongly associated with unemployment, low educational attainment, few social support resources, polydrug use, antisocial personality disorder symptoms, depression symptoms, and violence toward strangers for men than for women. Women who were victims of severe physical violence were more likely than men who were victims to experience symptoms of anxiety. The findings converge with community studies showing that more women than men are physically violent toward a partner and with clinical studies highlighting violence perpetrated against women by men with deviant characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is all sexual harassment viewed the same? Mock juror decisions in same- and cross-gender cases.

Given recent court decisions, there is a need to investigate less common forms of sexual harassment, including women harassing men and same-gender harassment. The present study was a 2 (harasser gender)?×?2 (target gender)?×?2 (participant gender) factorial design in which 408 mock jurors made decisions in a hostile work environment case. Women harassing men were more likely to be found guilty than were men harassing women, and harassers in same-gender cases were more likely to be found guilty and were perceived more negatively than harassers in cross-gender cases. Participant gender differences were found in cross-gender, but not same-gender, conditions. Results suggest that the gender composition of the harasser and target may be an extralegal factor influencing managerial and juror decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Residents' experiences of abuse, discrimination and sexual harassment during residency training. McMaster University Residency Training Programs

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of psychological abuse, physical assault, and discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, and to examine the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment in residency training programs. DESIGN: Self-administered questionnaire. SETTING: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont. PARTICIPANTS: Residents in seven residency training programs during the academic year from July 1993 to June 1994. Of 225 residents 186 (82.7%) returned a completed questionnaire, and 50% of the respondents were women. OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence of psychological abuse, physical assault and discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation experienced by residents during medical training, prevalence and residents' perceived frequency of sexual harassment. RESULTS: Psychological abuse was reported by 50% of the residents. Some of the respondents reported physical assault, mostly by patients and their family members (14.7% reported assaults by male patients and family members, 9.8% reported assaults by female patients and family members), 5.4% of the female respondents reported assault by male supervising physicians. Discrimination on the basis of gender was reported to be common and was experienced significantly more often by female residents than by male residents (p < 0.01). Ten respondents, all female, reported having experienced discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation. Most of the respondents experienced sexual harassment, especially in the form of sexist jokes, flirtation and unwanted compliments on their dress or figure. On average, 40% of the respondents, especially women (p < 0.01), reported experiencing offensive body language and receiving sexist teaching material and unwanted compliments on their dress. Significantly more female respondents than male respondents stated that they had reported events of sexual harassment to someone (p < 0.001). The most frequent emotional reactions to sexual harassment were embarassment (reported by 24.0%), anger (by 23.4%) and frustration (20.8%). CONCLUSION: Psychological abuse, discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual harassment are commonly experienced by residents in training programs. A direct, progressive, multidisciplinary approach is needed to label and address these problems.     

Gender, socioeconomic status, age, and jealousy: Emotional responses to infidelity in a national sample.

The authors used a representative national sample (N = 777) to test the evolutionary hypothesis that men would be more bothered by sexual infidelity and women by emotional infidelity, the Jealousy as a Specific Innate Module (JSIM) effect. Our alternative conceptualization of jealousy suggests that there are distinct emotional components of jealousy that did not evolve differently by gender. The authors looked for effects of age, socioeconomic status (SES), and type of measure (continuous or dichotomous) on jealousy. The authors did not find age or SES effects. Forced-choice items provided support for our alternative view; both genders showed more anger and blame over sexual infidelity but more hurt feelings over emotional infidelity. Continuous measures indicated more emotional response to sexual than emotional infidelity among both genders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of workplace harassment, gender, and use of services: An update.

Using three waves of data from an ongoing study of current and former university employees (N = 1,656), the authors reexamined the roles of sexual (SH) and generalized (GWH) workplace harassment and gender in predicting use of professional services by focusing on patterning (chronic, remission, onset, intermittent, and never harassed). The authors also reexamined whether services moderated relationships between SH and GWH patterns and drinking and mental health outcomes. All patterns of SH, but only chronic GWH, predicted increased odds of services use. Services use did not moderate relationship between SH patterns and outcomes, but was associated with lower alcohol consumption for men with GWH remission or chronicity, reduced escape drinking for those with GWH remission, and reduced hostility for those with intermittent GWH. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analytic review of gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment.

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health correlates of criminal victimization: A random community survey.

Interviewed a representative sample of 2,004 women (aged 18 yrs and older) about victimization experiences and mental health problems. After classification of the women into victimization groups, the occurrence of 3 mental health problems was compared across type of crime. Rates of "nervous breakdowns," suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts were significantly higher for crime victims than for nonvictims. Victims of attempted rape, completed rape, and attempted sexual molestation had problems more frequently than did victims of attempted robbery, completed robbery, aggravated assault, or completed molestation. Problems were not mediated by income and were affected only marginally by age and race. Nearly 1 rape victim in 5 (19.2%) had attempted suicide, whereas only 2.2% of nonvictims had done so. Most sexual assault victims' mental health problems came after their victimization. Findings suggest that crime victims are at risk for the development of major mental health problems, some of which are life threatening in nature. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The phenomenology of sexual harassment: Why does sexual behavior bother people in the workplace?

One of the issues that a consulting psychologist sometimes is asked to address as an expert witness in sexual harassment legal cases is how people interpret behavior to be sexually harassing. Of value in explaining why behavior is sometimes sexually harassing and sometimes not is an examination of some of the typical reasons people are bothered by sexual behavior in the workplace. Results are presented from a survey in which over 2,600 working women and men were asked to describe sexual behaviors they found to be sexually harassing at work. Nine reasons Ss were bothered by uninvited sexual attention at work were found, including exploitation of power and unprofessional behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)