Citation

Wang S, Eklund L, Yang X. Int. J. Public Health 2022; 67: e1604922.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.3389/ijph.2022.1604922

PMID

36119449

PMCID

PMC9474648

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the association between sexual harassment (SH) and college students' mental health in the Chinese context and its gender differences, exploring the moderating role of social support.

METHODS: Data were from the Third Survey of Chinese Women's Social Status and included 5,032 college students. We employed the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models with interaction terms to report the moderating effects of gender and social support on the association between SH and mental health.

RESULTS: Gender harassment and unwelcome sexual attention were negatively associated with mental health among all students, with no observed gender difference. Financial and large-scale emotional support moderated the association between unwelcome sexual attention and women's mental health but were not buffer factors for men. Learning support aggravated the adverse association between gender harassment and men's mental health.

CONCLUSION: SH is a significant trigger for men's and women's mental health problems. When they are subjected to SH, financial and emotional support are protective resources for women, but learning support is risky for men.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Female; Male; gender; mental health; Social Support; China; sexual harassment; Mental Health; higher education; social support; China/epidemiology; *Sexual Harassment/psychology; Students/psychology