Objective: Despite the high prevalence rates of street harassment for women, few studies have examined negative outcomes of this distressing experience. The current study aimed to further this area of inquiry by investigating potential consequences of street harassment, including perceptions of safety and anxiety among college women. Specifically, this study introduced and tested a mediation model in which women's experiences of street harassment may lead to less perceived safety in public spaces, specifically isolated and busy public spaces, which in turn may lead to more anxiety. Method: To examine the model, undergraduate women (N ϭ 501) completed measures of street harassment, perceived safety, and general anxiety. Results: Most participants (57-88%) reported experiencing verbal street harassment whereas 11-33% reported experiencing sexual forms of street harassment. Significant correlations emerged among street harassment, safety perceptions in busy and isolated public settings, and anxiety. Consistent with the model, safety perceptions in isolated public settings emerged as a significant mediator of the relation between street harassment and anxiety. Conclusion: This study begins to fill important gaps in the current literature related to mental health and psychological outcomes of street harassment. Specifically, street harassment is shown to promote safety concerns and anxiety more generally among college women.

Despite the frequency and negative consequences of stranger harassment, only a scant number of studies have explicitly examined stranger harassment and its consequences through the lens of objectification theory. The current study introduced and tested a mediation model in which women's experiences of stranger harassment may lead to self-objectification, which in turn may lead to objectification of other people. To examine this model, undergraduate women (N ¼ 501) completed measures of stranger harassment (including the verbal harassment and sexual pressure subscales of the Stranger Harassment Index), body surveillance, and objectification of other women and men. Consistent with hypotheses, significant positive correlations emerged among total stranger harassment, verbal harassment, sexual pressure, body surveillance, and otherobjectification of women. Other-objectification of men showed a similar pattern of results, with the exception of being unrelated to total stranger harassment and sexual pressure. Consistent with the proposed model, body surveillance was a significant mediator of the relation between total stranger harassment and other-objectification of both women and men, as well as the relation between verbal harassment and other-objectification of both women and men. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future directions for research on stranger harassment, are discussed.

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