Longitudinal analysis of dispositional influences and sexual harassment: Effects on job and psychological outcomes

Research consistently demonstrates that sexual harassment is related to a variety of negative outcomes. Negative outcomes, however, may be influenced by respondents' dispositions or response biases rather than by their sexual harassment experiences alone. This study investigates relationships between negative outcomes and sexual harassment over time in an attempt to assess this possibility. Further, little empirical research on sexual harassment has explored the impact of various coping strategies on experiences of harassment over time. Sexual harassment experiences, job-related and psychological outcomes, and coping responses were obtained from 216 female faculty and staff members at a midwestern university at 2 times, 24 months apart. Patterns of results suggests that sexual harassment has important effects on job-related and psychological outcomes that operate independently of dispositional influences or response biases. Results also indicate that sexual harassment at Time 1 is a better predictor of harassment at Time 2 than are coping strategies.