NCJ Number
173251
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: Winter 1995 Pages: 285-297
Date Published
1995
Length
13 pages
Annotation
In this institutional survey of mistreatment at a university, the sample included 1,585 (11 percent) of the university's work force and responses were received from 810 individuals (51 percent).
Abstract
Respondents were asked to consider only incidents that occurred during the 18 months before the survey was initiated and to consider general mistreatment that was nonsexual in nature. In order to exclude cases of interpersonal conflict that did not necessarily involve workplace mistreatment, five criteria were used: (1) respondent reported at least one type of mistreatment, along with severity; (2) respondent indicated at least one mistreatment; (3) respondent identified how long ago mistreatment occurred; (4) respondent remembered where mistreatment occurred; and (5) respondent recalled negative effects of mistreatment. Equal proportions of women and men reported mistreatment incidents. Mistreatment was perceived to come from both coworkers and superiors. The highest proportion of reported mistreatment was 38 percent for professional staff, followed by 25 percent for classified staff covered by civil service protection and 11 percent for faculty. Findings indicated that mistreatment occurs at all levels in institutions of higher education and that negative consequences of mistreatment for individuals in the workplace and for the institution as a whole are substantial. Survey limitations and policy implications of the findings are discussed. 19 references and 10 tables