Correlates of joining a sexual harassment class action.

Abstract

Researchers have proposed a variety of factors that influence the decision to seek legal relief in response to sexual harassment, but have generally failed to test these proposals empirically. The present study aims to address this gap by investigating the decision to join a class-action lawsuit. Participants were female professionals at a nationally based financial services firm, who either participated in or opted out of a sexual harassment class-action proceeding against the company. Five variables emerged as significant correlates of joining the class: organizational climate, turnover, financial dependence, PTSD, and primary appraisal. Dominance analysis identified contextual factors as the most important correlate. Theoretical and practical implications for the role of these factors in joining a class action are discussed.

Sex differences in outcomes and harasser characteristics associated with frightening sexual harassment appraisals.

“…Wright and Fitzgerald (2007) found that characteristics of the individual and the harassment differentially predicted women's harassment appraisal subtypes (fear, demoralization, anxious arousal, and self-blame). For example, comparing fear and demoralization, they found that women were more likely to join a class action lawsuit if they perceived their harassment to be demoralizing rather than causing feelings of fear (Wright & Fitzgerald, 2009), theorizing that anger (which they did not assess) rather than fear might motivate a desire to litigate. Furthermore, anxious arousal and fear appraisals were associated with the intensity of the sexual harassment, whereas demoralization and self-blame were not.…”

Correlates for Legal Help-Seeking: Contextual Factors for Battered Women in Shelter

“…Avoidance symptoms, which can include minimization and emotional numbing, may cause a battered woman to deny the reality of her situation and therefore not seek formal or informal help by calling the police, telling others, or going to a shelter when she is being battered. High levels of distress, however, may actually influence victims to seek initial assistance from legal sources (Wright & Fitzgerald, 2009); yet if this distress remains high, it will likely interfere with a battered woman’s ability to effectively utilize these resources over time (Johnson, Palmieri, Jackson, & Hobfoll, 2007; Johnson, Zlotnick, & Perez, 2008), even compromising future safety (Krause, Kaltman, Goodman, & Dutton, 2006; Perez & Johnson, 2008). For example, intrusive symptoms may be triggered by police interrogation or criminal prosecution (e.g., raised male voices, intimidation tactics, or aggressive gestures), leading a battered woman to respond in a similar fashion as she did to the abuser, such as by acquiescing to suggestions that she was to blame, or by completely withdrawing and not voicing her experiences (Dutton & Goodman, 1994).…”

Frightened or Bothered

“…Specifically, we examine appraisals of the harassment as bothersome (i.e., annoying and offensive) and frightening (i.e., threatening and frightening). Thus, our conceptualization is most similar to that examined by Wright and Fitzgerald (2009).…”

“…In a sample of sexually harassed females, Wright and Fitzgerald (2007) found that four types of appraisals (demoralization, anxious arousal, fear, and self-blame) were differentially related to characteristics of the harassment and the individual. Further, Wright and Fitzgerald (2009) examined demoralization and fear appraisals, and found that sexually harassed women who chose to enter a class action were more likely to have appraised their harassment as demoralizing. Thus, there are multiple types of appraisals that may result from a situation, and appraisal type may relate to behavioral and psychological outcomes.…”

“…Most studies have either examined sexual harassment appraisals as a unidimensional construct or examined only one aspect of appraisals (e.g., how bothersome it was). However, recent study results suggest that specific appraisals of the sexual harassment experience are differentially related to outcomes (e.g., Wright & Fitzgerald, 2009), but more research is needed to clarify the nature of these relationships. Thus, the goal of the present study was to examine whether two types of sexual harassment appraisals (bothersome vs. frightening) mediate the relationship of sexual harassment intensity and perpetrator status with psychological distress, and to examine gender differences in these meditational relationships.…”