NCJ Number
196217
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 8 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2002 Pages: 953-967
Date Published
August 2002
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects of sexual harassment on students attending high school and working part-time.
Abstract
Many students now choose to work while attending high school but no attention has been given to adolescents who experience workplace sexual harassment. Adult victims of sexual harassment experience decreased self-esteem and self-confidence, anger, irritability, social isolation, helplessness, anxiety, depression, tension, and nervousness. Somatic symptoms include gastrointestinal disturbances, headaches, tiredness, dental-related problems, sleep disturbance, nausea, and weight gain or loss of appetite. Workplace harassment affects 42 percent of adult female workers and up to 15 percent of adult male workers. The data for this study were collected in 1999 as part of a larger study conducted on peer sexual harassment during the school day. A non-probability sample of 712 Massachusetts students in a large suburban/rural high school completed a voluntary survey about on-the-job experience with sexual harassment. Results show that 35 percent of the 393 working students reported experiencing sexual harassment on the job (63 percent female, 37 percent male). Students who worked and experienced sexual harassment were significantly older than the students who worked and did not experience sexual harassment. There were no significant grade point differences between those students who worked and experienced sexual harassment and those who worked and did not experience sexual harassment. The frequency of victimization for both genders was comparable. When asked from whom they experienced sexual harassment, 19 percent identified supervisors, 61 percent identified co-workers, and 18 percent reported unidentified others. There were gender differences for students’ emotional reactions to sexual harassment victimization. Girls were significantly more upset and threatened by the sexual harassment they experienced at work than were boys. Further examination of the experiences of adolescents at work is needed to identify specific risk factors and develop recommendations to make teens’ work environments safe from sexual harassment and sexual assault. 3 tables, 40 references