“Do You Feel Bothered . . . ?” Answers to a New Question Provide New and Important Information About Sexual Harassment

Answers to a “new question” asked by a research team provide organizational leaders and workers new and important information about the negative outcomes of sexual harassment.  The researchers investigated the relation between sexual harassment and mental and physical health of both men and women.  They surveyed over 4,200 members of the Dutch police force.  These researchers asked a question never asked in previous research.  They asked whether the victims “felt bothered” by the harassment.  This “new” question concerns psychological “appraisal”.  In previous research, “appraisal” had not been taken into account.  This research team “assessed both actual experiences and the appraisal of these experiences.”

Asking that “new question”, their study results suggest that the effects of sexual harassment are very powerful for both men and women.  Both the bothered and nonbothered victims report health problems.  While the research concerned Dutch police officers, the results have implications for workplaces beyond the their police force and borders of the Netherlands.

Police forces are considered “male-dominated” organizations.  Sexual harassment occurs frequently in male-dominated organizations.  Legal and other professional services firms are in this category.

Sexual Harassment – A Frequently Occurring Problem in Many Organizations

Sexual harassment occurs frequently.  Rates vary widely.  The authors note several studies about law enforcement.  According to 1999 study about the harassment in the European Union, 33%-50% of women and 10% of men experienced sexual harassment.  Perhaps more striking, a 2000 survey study of 35 countries revealed 77% experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.  The U.S. federal workforce, according to another study cited by the authors, showed 44% of women and 19% of men were confronted with sexual harassment during a 2 year period.  Other research, according to the authors, has established that women are generally more bothered by sexual harassment than men.  The link between sexual harassment and health has been shown.  But, research study results on the link with gender have been inconsistent.  This study, according to the researchers, addressed the “gap” in previous research created by not taking “appraisal” into account.

Psychological Science Definition – “Appraisal”

The study authors noted that in 1997 Professor Louise Fitzgerald and co-authors (see Fitzgerald) formulated the “psychological definition” of sexual harassment – “unwanted sex-related behavior at work that is appraised by the recipient as offensive, exceeding her resources or threatening well-being” – frequently used in the psychological science domain.  This definition has endured.

In the context of this study, “appraisal” concerns the victim’s subjective evaluation of their experiences.  In particular, the researchers asked “whether victims felt bothered”.  The study authors observe that the “victims’ appraisal is an essential aspect Fitzgerald et al.’s (1997) definition of sexual harassment.”  Also, they add “at the workplace appraisal is used as indicated to decide whether behavior is sexually harassing.”

Sexual Harassment Victims – Life Hazards in Many Areas

Several studies noted by the authors show that sexual harassment is a potential hazard in many areas of a victim’s life.  This study focused on two:  mental health problems and physical health problems.  The mental health problems reported by the victims one study noted by the authors included anxiety, depression, irritability, anger, and uncontrolled crying.  Physical health consequences include weight loss, fatigues, dental and gastrointestinal problems.  Additional studies cited by the authors show that sexual harassment victims’ symptoms endure over time and they have a higher lifetime risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.  Another study noted that female sexual harassment victims report reduced life satisfaction up to 2 years later.  All of these studies point to one conclusion:  sexual harassment is negatively related to mental and physical health.

The “New” Question Explains Why This Research Occurred & The Hypotheses Tested

The authors cited and discussed the results of several prior studies.  The general conclusion from previous research about negative relationship to mental and physical does not answer the question whether the relation is equally strong for men and women.  The study authors state “In sum, research on the question of whether sexual harassment forms an equal threat to mental and physical health of men an women shows inconsistent results.”  But, previous research studies, according to the study authors, does seem show one aspect of sexual harassment more consistently.

The research team pointed to at least four different prior studies in support of the foundation for their research hypotheses that “. . . .male and female victims do seem to appraise sexual harassment differently.”  According to the authors, “victims’ appraisal of their experiences has not been considered in previous empirical research.”  Victims of sexual harassment, according to an article in a respected management review cited by the authors, process their mental health issues by “their sense making of the harassing behavior.”

The study investigated whether the relation between sexual harassment and mental and physical health is the same for men and women. The investigators did something new.  They announced that their study adds to the sexual harassment literature.  It does so “by asking victims whether they felt bothered by their experience.”  This question gets to the concept of “appraisal”.  Appraisal can be important in the developing literature because it could, they suggest, “shed more light on the variation in health consequences between individuals . . . and because appraisal is an essential aspect in the operationalization of sexual harassment.”

The three (3) hypotheses tested by the investigators are:

1. Sexual harassment is negatively related to the mental and physical health of both men and women.
2. Women often feel more bothered by sexual harassment than men.
3. Victims who report that they feel bothered by harassment experience more health problems compared to victims who do not feel bothered.

Method:  Participants, Procedure, & Measurements

The sample consisted of 3,001 policemen and 1,295 policewomen from the Dutch police force.  They filled out an Internet questionnaire.  The questionnaire set out successive instruments.  The instruments, and what they measured, are briefly described as follows:

• Sexual Harassment – a Dutch version of the Sexual Experience Questionnaire [SEQ] measured several harassing behaviors and asked the respondent to indicate frequency; when the respondent indicated that they experienced a least a “few times”, the questionnaire asked the respondent to indicate on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely) the extent to which they felt bothered; factor analysis of the data revealed two factors:  unwanted sexual attention and advances [verbal and behavioral harassment] and sexual coercion [resistance, promises, retaliation];
• Social Support – the Perceptions of Social Support List covered three areas:  Support in Daily Situations [e.g. feel valued at work?], Support in Problematic Situations [e.g. count on your colleagues?], and Social Isolation [feel being left alone at work?];
• Workload – measured with one question:  “. . . workload in your unit generally too high or too low?”;
• Burnout [as an indicator of mental health] – a Dutch version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory provided data in three subscales:  Emotional Exhaustion [e.g. “feel empty at end of a working day”], Depersonalization [e.g. “become cynical about the effects of my work”], Diminished Personal Competence [e.g. “achieved many worthwhile things in this job”]; and
• Physical Health Problems – 4 items assessed physical health problems:  general condition [“generally in good health?”], use of tranquilizers or other medicines [“use tranquilizers or other medicines?”], two clusters of specific physical complaints [“How often do you suffer from loss appetite, insomnia, or fatigue?”]

Results

The results obtained by the measures employed by the investigators and the analyses performed are noted below:

Descriptive Statistics

• 406 of the 1,295 women experienced sexual harassment and were bothered;
• 397 of the 3,001 men experienced sexual harassment and were bothered;
• 64% of the women experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment at least once;
• 48% of the men experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment at least once;
• female victims experience sexual harassment more frequently compared to male victims
• offensive remarks about their body or appearance and crude and offensive sexual remarks made either publicly or privately were the most common types of harassment reported by women;
• offensive remarks about their body or appearance and suggestive or sexualized materials were the most common types of harassment reported by men;
• in general, as to all forms with the exception of confrontation of suggestive or sexualized materials, more women than men experience sexual harassment;
• women, however, were more bothered than men by the confrontation of suggestive or sexualized materials;
• the correlation coefficients between the experience of sexual harassment and bothered by sexual harassment indicates that victims feel more bothered as the frequency of harassment increases

Sexual Harassment and Health

• 32% of the women and 13% of the men reported that they felt bothered by the sexually harassing experiences;
• among the women who experienced sexual harassment, 50% felt bothered by it;
• among the males who experienced sexual harassment, 28% felt bothered by it;
• burnout scores were lowest for police officers who did not experience sexual harassment and highest for the police officers who experienced sexual harassment and felt bothered by it;
• sexual harassment had a significant effect on physical health problems, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization;
• police officers who experienced sexual harassment and felt bothered by the experience had more physical and burnout complaints compared to nonvictims;
• victims who did not feel bothered also had more physical and burnout complaints compared to nonvictims;
• victims who felt bothered reported more emotional exhaustion and more physical health problems compared to victims who did not feel bothered’;
• for both men and women, there was a relation between sexual harassment and all health variables except diminished personal competence;
• both male and female victims had relatively low mental and physical health scores;
• the relation between sexual harassment and mental and physical health was the same for men and women;
• emotional exhaustion and physical complaints were highest for the victims who felt bothered by the harassment

Discussion, Limitations, & Implications

The results obtained by the investigators supported each hypothesis:

1. Sexual harassment is negatively related to the mental and physical health of both men and women.
2. Women often feel more bothered by sexual harassment than men.
3. Victims who report that they feel bothered by harassment experience more health problems compared to victims who do not feel bothered.

More women than men were sexually harassed.  Women felt more often bothered than men.  The result, then, is “the overall impact of harassment is much larger for women.”

The investigators do not assert that their study proves causality.  They used cross-sectional data, which does not prove that sexual harassment causes health problems.  They list a number of other limitations, including the generalizability of the results.  All participants worked in the Dutch police force, which makes the general application somewhat limited.  However, the results should, the authors suggest, apply to other male-dominated organizations with similar characteristics.

This study has important implications notwithstanding the limitations:

• the study adds to the literature because, according to the investigators’ knowledge, it was the first to include victims’ appraisal, which makes the assessment of the workplace hazard more comprehensive than any previous study;
• the study suggests that the “effects of sexual harassment are very powerful for both men and women”;
• both bothered and nonbothered victims of sexual harassment report health problems;
• victims who report that they feel bothered by the harassment report more health problems than the victims who do not feel bothered;
• workplace policies against sexual harassment should not only be aimed at women, but also at men;
• “It should also be emphasized that sexual harassment should be taken very seriously, even when it seems harmless and victims do not feel bothered by it.”

The article opens with this sentence “Sexual harassment occurs frequently in many organizations.”  In light of the investigators’ report of their efforts to extend the literature, which they did, and the significant and substantial results obtained and their implications, no organizational leader worthy of that title or position, should question or dispute or seek to avoid or minimize of dismiss the concluding remark point that “sexual harassment should be taken seriously…..”

Source: de Haas S, Timmerman G, & Höing M (2009). Sexual harassment and health among male and female police officers. Journal of occupational health psychology, 14 (4), 390-401 PMID: 19839659

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Services, Mission, Vision.  I am a former appellate judicial law clerk and currently a corporate trial attorney with 20+ years of experience and also have an MS degree in organizational development psychology.  I do not have a template for my work with consulting clients.  Instead, I use the action research approach, and strive to provide custom solutions for lawyers, judges, law firms, court systems, and other professional services providers and firms looking to embrace opportunities and achieve greater organizational and individual effectiveness.  I leverage for you the combination of my body of knowledge, experience, and training in the law and applied behavioral science from the organization development psychology discipline [OD] (See about OD).  Currently, I am pursuing a second MS degree in counseling psychology. You can read more about me in the About Me section at the home page of Psycholawlogy.  Adlitem Solutions will help you discover a new way or re-ignite past successful pathways, and together we will craft appropriate interventions for people, projects, and practices.  Thank you again.  Dan DeFoe JD MS.