Sexual Harassment of College Students: Implications for Campus Health Promotion

Abstract

The authors examined students' perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of sexual harassment by faculty members at a state university, using a sample of 1,139 graduate and undergraduate students. Twenty-six percent (292) of those in the sample responded. The instrument used in the study, adapted from a survey previously used at the University of Iowa, operationally defined eight categories of behavior: sexist comments, undue attention, verbal sexual advances, body language, invitations, physical advances, explicit sexual propositions, and sexual bribery. As many as 8% of the respondents indicated they had experienced the three most extreme forms of harassment—physical advances, explicit sexual propositions, and sexual bribery. Although most students thought they would report sexual harassment, only three incidents of the most extreme forms of sexual harassment were actually reported. Those who experienced harassment indicated that it generally came from one rather than from several faculty members and that it came from both male and female faculty. Twenty-three percent of the men reported experiencing sexist comments, and 5 male students reported they had experienced at least one of the three most extreme forms of sexual harassment. Recommendations for policy revisions and campus health promotion programming that were made following the survey are discussed.