Sexual harassment victimization in adolescence: Associations with family background

Abstract

Sexual harassment has been studies as a mechanism reproducing inequality between sexes, as gender based discrimination, and more recently, as a public health problem. The role of family-related factors for subjection to sexual harassment in adolescent has been little studied. Our aim was to study the role of socio-demographic family factors and parental involvement in adolescent's persona life for experiences of sexual harassment among 14-18-year-old population girls and boys. An anonymous cross-sectional classroom survey was carried out in comprehensive and secondary schools in Finland. 90953 boys and 91746 girls aged 14-18 participated. Sexual harassment was elicited with five questions. Family structure, parental education, parental unemployment and parental involvement as perceived by the adolescent were elicited. The data were analyzed using cross-tabulations with chi-square statistics and logistic regressions. All types of sexual harassment experiences elicited were more common among girls than among boys. Parental unemployment, not living with both parents and low parental education were associated with higher likelihood of reporting experiences of sexual harassment, and parental involvement in the adolescent's personal life was associated with less reported sexual harassment. Parental involvement in an adolescent's life may be protective of perceived sexual harassment. Adolescents from socio-economically disadvantaged families are more vulnerable to sexual harassment than their more advantaged peers.

Adolescents with same-sex interest: experiences of sexual harassment are more common among boys

“…Many studies have focused on any experiences in a given time frame (American Association of University Women, 2001;Bucchianeri et al, 2014;Chiodo et al, 2009;Petersen & Hyde, 2009) and therefore focusing on experiences that have occurred 'repeatedly' obviously results in smaller numbers. However, gender harassment and unwelcome sexual attention were in this sample less common than in an earlier Finnish report using data from an earlier School Health Promotion sample even when response categories 'sometimes' and 'repeatedly' are summarized (Kaltiala-Heino et al, 2016b). Two methodological issues may affect this.…”

“…Sociodemographic variables used were family structure, mother's and father's education, and unemployment in the family. These covariates were used because it has previously been shown that they are associated with experiences of sexual harassment in adolescent population (Kaltiala-Heino et al, 2016, 2016b, and they are also correlates of emotional and behavioral disorders (Hill, 2002;Torikka et al, 2014). The adolescents were asked if they lived with their mother and father together/with mother and father alternately/with mother alone/with father alone/with mother or father and her/his partner/in a foster family/with some other guardian/in a child welfare institution/with some other adult or adults/some other arrangement (clarification requested).…”

Experiences of sexual harassment are associated with the sexual behavior of 14- to 18-year-old adolescents

“…Subjection to sexual harassment is common among adolescents. In most studies, one to two thirds of adolescents reported to have been subjected to such experiences (Chiodo, Wolfe, Crooks, Hughes, & Jaffe, 2009;Gruber & Fineran, 2007;Kaltiala-Heino, Frojd, & Marttunen, 2016b;McMaster, Connolly, Pepler, & Craig, 2002;Petersen & Hyde, 2009). In a pioneering study in the field of sexual harassment among adolescents (American Association of University Women, 2001), as many as 81% of high school students had reportedly experienced sexual harassment at school.…”

“…We hypothesized that an association exists between sexual behavior and experiences of sexual harassment, such that adolescents with more advanced sexual experiences and more intense and risk-taking sexual behavior would also report a greater number of experiences of sexual harassment. Because different types of sexual harassment experiences have similar sociodemographic and mental health correlates (Kaltiala-Heino et al, 2016a, 2016b, we expected that the associations would be similar in all types of sexual harassment. We further hypothesized that these associations would diminish after controlling for confounding due to unfavorable sociodemographic characteristics (not living with both parents, low parental education, parental unemployment) and emotional (depression) and behavioral (delinquency) disorders.…”

Online sexual harassment and negative mood in Croatian female adolescents

“…Sexual harassment is gendered: most studies find that young women are more likely to experience it and young men to perpetrate it. In addition, among those exposed to sexual harassment, young women are more likely than men to find it upsetting [2][3][4][5][6][7]. It should be noted, however, that some studies have found little or no gender differences [8] as well as that the moderating effect of gender on the link between sexual harassment and emotional adjustment may not be consistent [5].…”