The Effect of Responses to Sexual Harassment on Depression,

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between sexual harassment and depression as a function of the actions that women took in response to the harassment. Active duty military women, DoD- employed civilian women, and military and civilian spouses (N=767) responded to a survey on quality of life and work issues distributed to personnel throughout the US Army-Europe (USAREUR). Overall, women who reported that they had experienced sexual harassment since their arrival to USAREUR showed significantly higher levels of depression than women who reported that they had not experienced harassment. However, this was true only -for women who minimized the significance of the incident, attempted to keep the harassment to themselves, believed that their complaint would be ignored, or reported the harassment but were unaware of the outcome. These findings are discussed in terms of how women's perceptions of the organizational climate and grievance process may influence the actions they take in response to sexual harassment, resulting in differential mental health outcomes. (AN)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA298932

Entities

People

  • Dave Bassan
  • Margaret A. Moore
  • Paul Bartone
  • Thomas W. Britt

Organizations

  • Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Active Duty
  • Administrative Personnel
  • Analysis Of Variance
  • Biomedical Research
  • Department Of Defense
  • Depression
  • Health
  • Management Personnel
  • Mental Health
  • New York
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Quality Of Life
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Training
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Theoretical Analysis.