ERIC Number: EJ1235043
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Nov
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0165-0254
EISSN: N/A
Peer Sexual Harassment Predicts African American Girls' Psychological Distress and Sexual Experimentation
Sagrestano, Lynda M.; Ormerod, Alayne J.; DeBlaere, Cirleen
International Journal of Behavioral Development, v43 n6 p492-499 Nov 2019
Peer sexual harassment (PSH) occurs frequently and across contexts during adolescence. The current study examined the relations among PSH in school, psychological distress, sexual experimentation, and sexual risk-taking in a sample of African American middle and high school girls. Results indicate that negative body appraisals mediated the relationship between PSH and psychological distress, suggesting that PSH is one way to operationalize interpersonal sexualization and sexual objectification. PSH was directly associated with sexual experimentation, but the association between PSH and sexual experimentation was not mediated by negative body appraisals. Neither PSH nor negative body appraisals were related to sexual risk-taking. This suggests that frequent exposure to high levels of sexualization and sexual objectification, in the form of PSH, is associated with more psychological distress and sexual experimentation, but not with sexual risk-taking, regardless of how girls feel about their bodies.
Descriptors: Peer Relationship, Sexual Harassment, Adolescents, African American Students, Middle School Students, High School Students, Sexuality, At Risk Persons, Human Body, Self Concept, Health Behavior, Risk, Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Age Differences
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Tennessee
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Brief Symptom Inventory; Youth Risk Behavior Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A