Skip to main content

Self-Labeling Sexual Harassment

Sex Roles volume 53, pages 173–189 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

This study was designed to examine personal, stimulus, and organizational factors that predict the self-labeling of sexual harassment. Hypotheses were developed based on the social cognitive schema framework, which suggests that the activation of a victim's schema of sexual harassment influences self-labeling incidents as sexual harassment. Results of a secondary analysis of the 1995 Department of Defense Gender Issues dataset generally supported the hypotheses in that self-labeling is a multi-faceted process. Several findings were in the opposite direction from that predicted (e.g., perceptions that the military was implementing sexual harassment policies were negatively associated with self-labeling). Alternative explanations for the complexity of the self-labeling process were also examined.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Addelston, J., & Stirratt, M. (1996). The last bastion of masculinity: Gender politics at the Citadel. In C. Cheng (Ed.), Masculinities in organizations (pp. 54–76). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arvey, R. D., & Cavanaugh, M. A. (1995). Using surveys to assess the prevalence of sexual harassment: Some methodological problems. Journal of Social Issues, 51, 39–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, T. T., & Ford, J. K. (1988). Transfer of training: A review and directions for future research. Personnel Psychology, 41, 63–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bastion, L. D., Lancaster, A. R., & Reyst, H. E. (1996). Department of Defense 1995 sexual harassment survey (Report No. 96-014). Arlington, VA: Defense Manpower Data Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bondurant, B. (2001). University women's acknowledgment of rape: Individual, situational, and social factors. Violence Against Women, 7, 294–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, F., Clayton, S., Alksnis, O., & Hemker, K. (1986). Cognitive biases in the perception of discrimination: The importance of format. Sex Roles, 14, 637–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, F., Cordova, D. I., & Jaskar, K. (1993). On the failure to see oneself as disadvantaged: Cognitive and emotional components. In D. Abrams & M. A. Hogg (Eds.), Group motivation: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 87–104). Hertfordshire, England: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Culbertson, A. L., Rosenfeld, P., & Newell, C. E. (1993). Sexual harassment in the active-duty Navy: Findings from the 1991 Navy-wide survey (NPRDCTR-94-2). San Diego, CA: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of the Navy. (1993). Resolving conflict. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunivin, K. O. (1994). Military culture: Change and continuity. Armed Forces and Society, 20, 531–547.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, S., Barak, A., & Pinto, A. (1991). Moderating effects of personal cognitions on experienced and perceived sexual harassment of women at the workplace. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 1320–1337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, S. T., & Linville, P. W. (1980). What does the schema concept buy us? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 6, 543–557.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, L. F. (1990, March). Assessing strategies for coping with sexual harassment: A theoretical/empirical approach. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Women in Psychology, Tempe, AZ.

  • Fitzgerald, L. F., Drasgow, F., Hulin, C. L., Gelfand, M. J., & Magley, V. J. (1997). The antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment in organizations: A test of an integrated model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 578–589.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, L. F., Gelfand, M. J., & Drasgow, F. (1995). Measuring sexual harassment: Theoretical and psychometric advances. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17, 425–445.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, L. F., Magley, V. J., Drasgow, F., & Waldo, C. R. (1999). Measuring sexual harassment in the military: The SEQ-DoD. Military Psychology, 11, 243–263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, L. F., Shullman, S., Bailey, N., Richards, M., Swecker, J., Gold, A., Ormerod, A. J., & Weitzman, L. (1988). The incidence and dimensions of sexual harassment in academia and the workplace. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 32, 152–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, L. F., Swan, S., & Magley, V. J. (1997). But was it really sexual harassment? Legal, behavioral, and psychological definitions of the workplace victimization of women. In W. O'Donohue (Ed.), Sexual harassment: Theory, research and treatment (pp. 5–28). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garsombke, D. J. (1988). Organizational culture dons the mantle of militarism. Organizational Dynamics, 17, 46–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelfand, M. J., Fitzgerald, L. F., & Drasgow, F. (1995). The structure of sexual harassment: A confirmatory analysis across cultures and settings. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 47, 164–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, M. (2001). Feminist reconstructions in psychology: Narrative, gender, and performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giuffre, P. A., & Williams, C. L. (1994). Boundary lines: Labeling sexual harassment in restaurants. Gender & Society, 8, 378–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, J. E. (1992, March). The sexual harassment experiences of women in nontraditional jobs: Results from cross-national research. Proceedings of the First National Conference on Sex and Power Issues in the Workplace, Bellevue, WA.

  • Gutek, B. A., Murphy, R. O., & Douma, B. (2004). A review and critique of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ). Law and Human Behavior, 28, 457–482.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamby, S. L., & Gray-Little, B. (2000). Labeling partner violence: When do victims differentiate among acts? Violence and Victims, 15, 173–186.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hay, M. S., & Elig, T. W. (1999). The 1995 Department of Defense Sexual Harassment Survey: Overview and methodology. Military Psychology, 11, 233–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter-Williams, J., Fitzgerald, L. F., & Drasgow, F. (1999). The effects of organizational practices on sexual harassment and individual outcomes in the military. Military Psychology, 11, 303–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, E. E., & Nisbett, R. E. (1971). The actor and the observer: Perceptions of the causes of behavior. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, A. S., Mathie, V. A., & Torgler, C. (1994). Rape scripts and rape acknowledgement. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 53–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, H. H. (1967). Attribution theory in social psychology. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 15, 192–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koss, M. P. (1990). Changed lives: The psychological impact of sexual harassment. In M. Paludi (Ed.), Ivory power: Sexual harassment on campus (pp. 73–92). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemert, E. M. (1951). Social pathology: A systematic approach to the theory of sociopathic behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Link, B. G., Cullen, F. T., Struening, E., Shrout, P. E., & Dohrenwend, B. P. (1989). A modified labeling theory approach to mental disorders: An empirical assessment. American Sociological Review, 54, 400–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magley, V. J., Hulin, C. L., Fitzgerald, L. F., & DeNardo, M. (1999). Outcomes of self-labeling sexual harassment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 390–402.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marin, A. J., & Guadagno, R. E. (1999). Perceptions of sexual harassment victims as a function of labeling and reporting. Sex Roles, 41, 921–940.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markel, K. S., & Frone, M. R. (1998). Job characteristics, work–school conflict, and school outcomes among adolescents: Testing a structural model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 277–287.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martindale, C. (1991). Cognitive psychology: A neural-network approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzeo, S. E., Bergman, M. E., Buchanan, N. T., Drasgow, F., & Fitzgerald, L. F. (2001). Situation-specific assessment of sexual harassment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59, 120–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moyer, R. S., & Nath, A. (1998). Some effects of brief training interventions on perceptions of sexual harassment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 333–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munson, L. J., Miner, A. G., & Hulin, C. (2001). Labeling sexual harassment in the military: An extension and replication. Journal of Applied Psychology, 56, 293–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newcomb, M. D. (1990). What structural equation modeling can tell us about social support. In B. R. Sarason, I. G. Sarason, & G. R. Pierce (Eds.), Social support: An interactional view (pp. 26–63). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ottati, V., Triandis, H. C., & Hui, C. H. (1999). Subjective culture and the workplace: Comparing Hispanic and mainstream naval recruits. In Y. E. Lee, C. R. McCauley, & J. G. Draguns (Eds.), Personality and person perception across cultures (pp. 235–253). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ragins, B. R., & Scandura, T. A. (1995). Antecedents and work-related correlates of reported sexual harassment: An empirical investigation of competing hypotheses. Sex Roles, 32, 429–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, L. N., & Martin, L. (1998). Incidence and perceptions of sexual harassment among male and female U.S. Army soldiers. Military Psychology, 10, 239–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepela, S. T., & Levesque, L. L. (1998). Poisoned waters: Sexual harassment and the college climate. Sex Roles, 38, 589–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stockdale, M. S., & Vaux, A. (1993). What sexual harassment experiences lead respondents to acknowledge being sexually harassed? A secondary analysis of a university survey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 43, 221–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stockdale, M. S., Vaux, A., & Cashin, J. (1995). Acknowledging sexual harassment: A test of alternative models. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17, 469–496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., & Crocker, J. (1981). Schematic bases of social information processing. In E. T. Higgins, C. P. Herman, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Social cognition: The Ontario symposium (Vol. 1, pp. 89–134). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terpstra, D. E., & Baker, D. D. (1989). The identification and classification of reactions to sexual harassment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 10, 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, M. D. (1995). Gender differences in conceptualizing sexual harassment (NPRDC-TR-95-5). San Diego, CA: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkerson, J. M. (1999). The impact of job level and prior training on sexual harassment labeling and remedy choice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 1605–1623.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, 06249, Connecticut

    Vicki J. Magley

  2. Department of Psychology, Grand Valley State University, Michigan

    Ellen I. Shupe

Authors
  1. Vicki J. Magley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ellen I. Shupe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vicki J. Magley.

Additional information

Portions of this article were presented as a poster at the 2000 Association for Women in Psychology conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Authorship is listed alphabetically, both authors contributed equally to this study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Magley, V.J., Shupe, E.I. Self-Labeling Sexual Harassment. Sex Roles 53, 173–189 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-5677-3

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-5677-3

Keywords

  • sexual harassment
  • labeling
  • schema
  • military personnel