A more accurate approach to measuring the prevalence of sexual harassment among high school students.

Abstract

The present study surveyed the prevalence of sexual harassment among high school students. A total of 1,582 students from 18 schools completed a version of the American Association of University Women (1993) survey. Reported sexual harassment events were restricted to those that: a) had been experienced first-hand, b) had occurred within the preceding two weeks, and c) were reported by students who were notably upset by their experiences. Despite this stringent approach, sexual harassment was found to be a significant problem in high schools. Fifteen percent of students were both sexually harassed and very or somewhat upset by their harassment experiences. Nearly half of these upset students were recipients of physical forms of sexual harassment.

School Violence and the Adolescent Girl Learners’ Academic Progress in South African Schools

“…This is in agreement with the findings of Walsh et al (2007) and Mutekwe et al (2012) that the perpetrator or perpetrators were mostly male.…”

“…Walsh et al (2007) found in their study on the prevalence of sexual harassment in high school that 9% of learners reported the gender of the perpetrator(s) to be male, 2% reported the gender of the perpetrator(s) to be female and 2% of students reported having been sexually harassed by both males and females. In addition, Mutekwe et al (2012) reported in their study that the majority of the girl participants indicated that it was boys and male teachers who harassed and sexually abused them at school.…”

Adolescent school-based sexual victimization: Exploring the role of opportunity in a gender-specific multilevel analysis

“…6 Beyond individual-level risk and protective factors, other research highlights or implies environmental (school-level) correlates of sexual victimization. For instance, research shows that there are particular areas of schools that experience a disproportionate share of overall sexual harassment, with "hot spots" including school hallways, classrooms, the gym, playing fields, or a pool area (AAUW, 2001;Walsh et al, 2007). A number of these spots overlap with the hot spots identified by Astor and colleagues (described above) in their study of general school violence (e.g., Astor et al, 1999;Benbenishty & Astor, 2005).…”

“…Both of the AAUW (1993AAUW ( , 2001) studies revealed that the majority of sexual victimization was committed by students. In addition, compared to male students, females were more likely to report that the perpetrator was a fellow student rather than an employee of the school (Walsh et al, 2007).…”

Impact of Sexual Harassment Victimization by Peers on Subsequent Adolescent Victimization and Adjustment: A Longitudinal Study

“…Most students also experience some forms of sexual harassment during high school, either occasionally (59%) or often (27%), with girls experiencing more frequent and severe forms than boys [5,6]. Even when the timeframe of questions about unwanted sexual behaviors and harassment is narrowed from ''ever'' (i.e., lifetime prevalence) to the past 2 weeks, 15% of high school students report being subjected to unwanted and personally upsetting sexual harassment [7].…”