@article{ref1,
title="Reporting sexual harassment in the military: Associations between victims' perceptions of the reporting process and psychosocial well-being",
journal="Journal of trauma and dissociation",
year="2014",
author="Bell, Margret E. and Street, Amy E. and Stafford, Jane",
volume="15",
number="2",
pages="133-152",
abstract="Given the importance of reporting to sexual harassment prevention and intervention efforts, is not surprising that an extensive scientific literature has developed on predictors of victims' decisions about making a formal report to authorities about their experiences. In contrast, little empirical work has focused on how reporting affects victims, particularly their psychosocial well-being. This study used a national sample of 1,562 former military Reservists who had experienced sexual harassment during their service to examine the relationship between reporting, experiences reporting, and psychosocial well-being, as indicated by post-harassment functioning, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at their worst following the harassment, and current symptoms of depression. Making a formal report was not associated with well-being, but among those who did report, perceiving that the report had resulted in the harassment being addressed by authorities was associated with better post-harassment functioning and fewer symptoms of PTSD. Satisfaction with the reporting process showed the strongest association with well-being, demonstrating small but meaningful associations with depression and medium-to-large and medium associations with post-harassment functioning and PTSD, respectively. Although findings did not vary by gender, predictors accounted for more variance in well-being for men than women. In the whole sample, satisfaction with the reporting process mediated the relationship between victims' perceptions of system responsiveness to the report and post-harassment functioning and PTSD. Findings suggest that a victim's perceptions of and satisfaction with the reporting process may impact well-being more strongly than whether or not the victim made a report to authorities. Men may be even more strongly impacted by their experiences with the reporting process than women.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1529-9732",
doi="10.1080/15299732.2014.867563",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2014.867563"
}