The Perceptions of Sexual Harassment among Adolescents of Four European Countries

Abstract

Sexual harassment is a crucial public health issue among adolescents. In order to develop school health promotion programs, there is a need to involve adolescents themselves paying particular attention to their perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and practices. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the adolescents’ perceptions about sexual harassment as well as the ways it could be prevented. Four focus groups were conducted during an online “camp” in autumn 2021, facilitated by members of SHEHAP project research team. Participants were secondary school students from Finland, Greece, Lithuania and Portugal. The qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Concerning how participants perceive sexual harassment, the themes that emerged were: physically expressed sexual harassment; verbally expressed sexual harassment; virtually expressed sexual harassment; violation of self-determination. Virtual environment; school environment; public environment; familiar environment, were identified as the places where sexual harassment may occur. Finally, in regard to the participants’ views on the prevention of sexual harassment, the following themes emerged: youth education; adult education aiming teachers and parents; professional, peer and family support; official consequences; health education methods. The findings of the current study can be used for the development of school-based programs aiming to prevent sexual harassment among adolescents.

Sexual Harassment among Adolescent’s Girls: Role of Social and Psychological Empowerment

“…The same variations in adolescents' perceptions of sexual harassment were reported by other national and international studies (Kabbash et al, Sweeting et al and Sakellari et al (38,39,40) . Many factors could contribute to this wide variation in adolescents' perception of sexual harassment.…”

“…The current study revealed that more than half of the studied adolescent girls reported instilling religious principles and values, proper rearing of children, and imposing legal sanctions on harassers as the most important preventive measures against sexual harassment. Sakellari et al (40) reported other preventive measures included; youth education; adult education for teachers and parents; professional, peer, and family support; official consequences; health education methods regarding the participants' views on the prevention of sexual harassment.…”

Sexual harassment exposure among junior high school students in Norway: prevalence and associated factors

“…It is fully possible that adolescents’ views on sexual harassment would suggest a further development of the questions that are asked to address this issue. As indicated from a previous study, focus groups might be a good method by which to elicit relevant information based on adolescents’ own views ( 51 ). Furthermore, the associations found between sexual harassment and the psychosocial outcomes may be influenced by other factors not controlled for in the study.…”