Frightened or Bothered

Abstract

The present study distinguishes between bothersome versus frightening sexual harassment appraisals and examines their relative strength as mediators of the relationship of sexual harassment intensity and perpetrator status with psychological distress. Using a sample of 6,304 men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces, the results indicated that sexual harassment intensity and perpetrator status were related to psychological distress. For men, bothersome appraisals mediated this relationship for two of the three sexual harassment subtypes examined and for perpetrator status; for women, bothersome appraisal was not a significant mediator. Frightening appraisals mediated the relationship for all sexual harassment subtypes and perpetrator status for both men and women, and accounted for significantly more of the relationship between sexual harassment intensity and distress than did bothersome appraisals for most analyses. However, mediating relationships were significantly stronger for men than for women. We discuss the utility of a multidimensional conceptualization of sexual harassment appraisals.

Minimization of Male Suffering: Social Perception of Victims and Perpetrators of Opposite-Sex Sexual Coercion

“…These main hypotheses were based on previous research regarding both actual victims of SH and the social perception of victims of SH. Research on victims of SH shows that men suffer to the same extent as women as a result of this offense (Settles et al 2011; Birkeland et al 2010; Street et al 2007a, b; Vogt et al 2005; Magley et al 1999), while the studies on the perception of the victims show the men to be seen as less influenced by SH (LaRocca and Kromrey 1999; Berdahl et al 1996; Struckman-Johnson and Struckman-Johnson 1993; McKinney 1992; Konrad and Gutek 1986). …”

“…For example, in a study by Kearney and Rochlen (2011) on male college students, 73.7 % of Mexican-American students and 84.4 % of Caucasian students were found to have experienced SH. Settles et al (2011) found that among the US armed service personnel, 19.4 % of males ( n  = 1764) and 51.7 % of females ( n  = 4540) have experienced some forms of SH. In a Norwegian employee sample, it was found that 18.4 % experienced some forms of SH, while 0.9 % of men and 0.8 % of women stated that they had experienced SC (i.e., had been asked to have sex in order to avoid something or to gain something; Birkeland et al 2010).…”

“…Another study on military personnel showed a positive linear relationship between the frequency of SH and psychological and physiological problems among both men and women (Magley et al 1999). Men and women who found different types of SH (gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion) to be frightening experienced similar levels of distress (Settles et al 2011), additionally, for men the perception of SH as bothersome that lead to their heightened intensity of distress. In a different study by the same team (Settles et al 2014), the relationship between frightening appraisals of SH acts and psychological distress was stronger for men than women.…”

Boundaries and Borders: How Do Recipients Interpret Social-Sexual Behaviour at Work?

“…Stemming from this definition, I take interpretation of sexual harassment to mean the subjective cognitive process through which a person extracts meaning from ambiguous information regarding sexual conduct in order to construct a mental representation of sexual harassment. Also, in identifying the different ways women appraise a sexual conduct such as frightening, bothersome (Settles, Harrell, Buchanan, & Yap, 2011), upsetting (Hitlan, Schneider, & Walsh, 2006) and evoking other emotional responses such as fear, anxiety, and anger (Wright & Fitzgerald, 2007), I use the umbrella term 'harassing' to encompass a range of interpretations, from feeling offended and uncomfortable to frightened.…”

Impact of Deployment‐Related Sexual Stressors on Psychiatric Symptoms After Accounting for Predeployment Stressors: Findings From a U.S. National Guard Cohort

“…It will also likely be helpful to obtain a larger sample of female service members, as this would allow for consideration of gender related differences in the impact of sexual stressors . Some extant sexual harassment literature has suggested that men and women may differentially experience or appraise sexual harassment, and this could plausibly impact the degree of impairment resulting from these experiences (e.g., Settles, Harrell, Buchanan, & Yap, 2011;Vogt et al, 2011).…”