Explores alleged abridgements of students' federal rights regarding sexual harassment by school employees or by classmates. Examines claims based on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Fourteenth Amendment. Despite federal protections, students carry a heavy burden of proof in establishing that their rights have been impaired by…

Explores the concept of "subculture rollover" as the development of a hostile organizational environment toward a victim of sexual harassment. Because the victim of harassment is seen as a whistleblower, exposing elites and supervisory personnel to outside scrutiny, the organization reacts in a manner designed to preserve itself by the eventual…

Examines the circumstances and characteristics of sexual assaults against adult males presenting to a crisis unit in a large metropolitan area. Most victims were young gay men, many of whom had physical or cognitive disabilities making them particularly vulnerable. Results suggest a need for increased awareness of acquaintance sexual assault in…

Identifies risk factors connected with the occurrence of sexual abuse and associated with severity of sexual abuse, comparing the risk factors derived from U.S. and Taiwan studies. Indicates family interaction variables are good predictors for occurrence of sexual abuse. Found location, gender of victim and abuser, and relationship of abuser to be…

Students experience many forms of victimization at school, yet few studies address more than one form of victimization. In this study, we explored the incidence of multiple forms of peer victimization, including direct verbal and physical, relational, and sexual harassment victimization among urban middle school students. We examined the overlap…

Previous research on sexual harassment on college campuses identified a third category of respondent in addition to victims and harassers. These victim-harassers were individuals who both harassed others and who had been harassed themselves. Undergraduates (N=692) from three colleges completed questionnaires about their experience as victims and…

Addressed undergraduate women's perceptions of and responses to sexual harassment in a university setting. Examined predictors of reporting incidents of harassment and of attitudes toward reporting procedures. Indicated that subjects perceived reporting behavior to be predicted by severity of harassment, fear of being accused of lying, perceived…

There is general consensus among men and women in attributing systematic meaning to behaviors alleged to be sexually offensive and to constitute sexual harassment. This consensus has implications for university policy including stressing education, providing assistance to victims, and not jeopardizing offenders' rights. (Author/ABB)

In creating this report the Task Force gathered information by conducting site visits; communicating with numerous individuals, including victims; reviewing the Department of Defense survey data; reviewing Academy and Service policies, reports, and data; consulting with subject matter experts; and communicating with related committees and task…

The National College Women Sexual Victimization (NCVS) study attempted to build on and surmount the limitations of existing research on the sexual victimization of college students. In addition to the study of sexual victimization, the study investigated how rape estimates that use the two-stage process of behaviorally specific questions and…

Describes extent and impact of harassment; responses of victims, school personnel, and perpetrators to harassment; and legal redress available to victims. Includes specific steps social workers and other school personnel should take to prevent or alleviate such problems. (LBT)

This paper presents a review of the research literature on the factors associated with the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women victims of rape and sexual assault. Various studies have linked preassault variables (such as childhood abuse), and assault variables (including injury and perceived life threat during the assault)…

Dating violence can be described as a pattern of repeated threats or acts of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by a member of an unmarried, noncohabitating couple. Dating violence is most often a pattern of behavior that begins with verbal and emotional abuse and eventually escalates into physical battering. Teens are particularly at risk…

Investigates the effect of observer characteristics (gender and traditional vs. less traditional attitudes) on attributions of responsibility in a case of sexual harassment. Gender of the victim in the scenarios presented were varied, along with the victim's reaction to the harassment. Observers' evaluations and responsibility attributions are…

Examines whether two trauma characteristics that are hypothesized to relate to perceptions of safety--assault location and assailant identity--predict rate and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in female rape victims. Contrary to prediction, women assaulted by dangerous assailants reported significantly more severe PTSD symptoms…