Date of Award
5-1994
Honors Thesis Number
7196
Major
Psychology
Abstract
There is problem within the arena of sexual harassment that deals with the low rate of reporting such harassment. Low reports could mean that victims don't even acknowledge that they have been sexually harassed. This study deals directly with this phenomenon. Other studies show that only 50% of women in any given sample report being victims of sexually harassing experiences but only 5% of those women actually report being sexually harassed (Fitzgerald, 1988). It was hypothesized that the status of the perpetrator would positively predict victim's likelihood of claiming to be sexually harassed but this was found to be unsupported. It was also hypothesized that older more than younger respondents, women more than men, single more than married, and minorities more than nonminorities acknowledge being sexually harassed. But most of these also found unsupported by the data. The only evidence supported is that women more than men acknowledge being sexually harassed. The implications of this study direct us toward more research on the issue of sexual harassment.