REFINING SEX-ROLE SPILLOVER THEORY - THE ROLE OF GENDER SUBTYPES AND HARASSER ATTRIBUTIONS

A refined model of sex-role spillover theory (SRST), which posits a ro le for gender subtypes and harasser motivations in understanding perce ptions of sexual harassment, is tested. Fifty male and 61 female under graduates were asked to assess female targets on stereotypic character istics, and to make attributions of harasser motivations for six scena rios describing three types of harassment (unwanted sexual attention, gender harassment, sexual coercion) at two levels of severity (nonphys ical and physical) toward women in two different types of occupations (traditional and nontraditional). As predicted, scenarios about tradit ionally and nontraditionally employed female targets elicited differen t gender subtypes and different attributions of harasser motivations, depending on the type of sexual harassment experienced. Theoretical im plications of this research are discussed.