NCJ Number
163244
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 254-265
Date Published
1995
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article compares 1989 and 1993 studies of the sexual harassment of undergraduate women (seniors, nontransfers) at a northeastern public university in the United States.
Abstract
During the fall 1993 semester, data were obtained from 140 women in their senior year of college study. In the 1993 study and an earlier 1989 study, a questionnaire was used to elicit information about student demographic characteristics and of experiences of sexual harassment on campus. Demographic information included student college residence, status, age, and grade-point average. Sexual harassment data included student experiences with such incidents, the nature of the incidents, the perpetrators of the incidents, and the reporting practices of those who experienced incidents. Findings suggest that these incidents have decreased over the last 4 years (from 25 percent in 1989 to 20 percent in 1993) but that sexual harassment remains a problem, with approximately one in every five women likely to experience an incident of sexual harassment by her senior year. Although approximately one-third of students continue to cite faculty members as perpetrators and several mention personnel in other areas of the university, most women continue to report other students as perpetrators. The results strongly suggest that measures taken by university personnel to combat sexual harassment since the 1989 study may be responsible for the decrease in reported incidents, but more still needs to be done. 5 tables and 13 references