{"id":33654,"date":"2017-01-03T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T18:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=33654"},"modified":"2016-12-21T09:51:29","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T17:51:29","slug":"study-shows-sexual-harassment-is-common-in-middle-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/study-shows-sexual-harassment-is-common-in-middle-school-0103171","title":{"rendered":"Study Shows Sexual Harassment Is Common in Middle School"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"StudentSexual harassment is common in middle school, according to research published in the journal Children and Youth Services Review. <\/em>Although 43% of middle schoolers reported experiencing verbal sexual harassment, few bullying<\/a> programs address this highly prevalent form of bullying.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), 28% of adolescents<\/a> in grades 6-12 experience bullying, suggesting sexual harassment may be more common than traditional bullying.<\/p>\n

Sexual Harassment in Middle School<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The study followed 1,300 children in Illinois for five years, beginning in middle school. Verbal sexual harassment was the most prevalent form of harassment in the group. Twenty-one percent of students reported experiencing physical forms of sexual harassment, including sexual assault<\/a>. Fourteen percent of students were victims of sexual rumors, and 9% had been the subject of sexual graffiti in locker rooms and bathrooms.<\/p>\n

Sixteen percent of students reported homophobic<\/a> harassment such as name-calling and jokes, and 5% said they frequently experienced this form of harassment.<\/p>\n

\n\t

Find a Therapist<\/a><\/h2>\n\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\tAdvanced Search<\/a>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>An open-ended portion of the survey asked students to report their most upsetting experiences with sexual harassment. Many students minimized the seriousness of their experiences, with 14% saying the bullying was \u201cnot really sexual harassment.\u201d Many claimed the perpetrators were just joking. Despite this dismissiveness, students still reported finding their experiences very upsetting.<\/p>\n

Sexual Harassment and Bullying<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Boys were significantly more likely to be sexual harassers, whether their targets were male or female. Boys who experienced sexual harassment often reported that the perpetrators were close friends<\/a>. Harassment was most common in school hallways. Classrooms, locker rooms, gym class, and lunch rooms were also common sexual harassment locations.<\/p>\n

African-American students often reported harassment from older students and romantic partners<\/a>. White students experienced more victimization<\/a> at the hands of their friends and same-age peers.<\/p>\n

The study highlights the role of sexual harassment in bullying, while pointing to the dearth of anti-sexual harassment training in most anti-bullying programs. The study\u2019s authors say the dismissive attitude many students have toward sexual harassment is especially troubling and should be addressed by anti-bullying initiatives.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Espelage, D. L., Hong, J. S., Rinehart, S., & Doshi, N. (2016). Understanding types, locations, & perpetrators of peer-to-peer sexual harassment in U.S. middle schools: A focus on sex, racial, and grade differences.\u00a0Children and Youth Services Review,<\/em>\u00a071<\/em>, 174-183. doi:10.1016\/j.childyouth.2016.11.010<\/li>\n
  2. Facts about bullying. (n.d.). Retrieved from https:\/\/www.stopbullying.gov\/news\/media\/facts\/#listing<\/li>\n
  3. Sexual harassment common among middle school children, study finds. (2016, December 9). Retrieved from https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2016\/12\/161209184825.htm<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Surveys from a recent study suggest sexual harassment may be even more common than bullying, though it is generally not addressed in anti-bullying campaigns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2555,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[530,21,25,385],"class_list":["post-33654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-therapy-news","tag-bullying","tag-child-and-adolescent-issues","tag-psychotherapy-issues","tag-sexual-abuse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}