Profiles in coping: responses to sexual harassment across persons, organizations, and cultures

J Appl Psychol. 2005 Jan;90(1):182-92. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.182.

Abstract

This study explicates the complexity of sexual harassment coping behavior among 4 diverse samples of working women: (a) working-class Hispanic Americans, (b) working-class Anglo Americans, (c) professional Turks, and (d) professional Anglo Americans. K-means cluster analysis revealed 3 common harassment coping profiles: (a) detached, (b) avoidant negotiating, and (c) support seeking. The authors then tested an integrated framework of coping profile determinants, involving social power, stressor severity, social support, and culture. Analysis of variance, chi-square, and discriminant function results identified significant determinants at each of the 4 levels of this ecological model. These findings underscore the importance of focusing on whole patterns of experience--and considering influences at the level of the individual employee and multiple levels of the surrounding context--when studying how women cope with workplace sexual harassment.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Cultural Characteristics*
  • Data Collection
  • Female
  • Hispanic or Latino
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Organizational Culture
  • Sexual Harassment / psychology*
  • Turkey / ethnology
  • Workplace