Situation-specific assessment of sexual harassment

Although empirical investigations into the phenomenon of sexual harassment have increased exponentially over the past decade, many basic questions abo ut the measurement of this construct remain unanswered. Most research has u tilized an aggregate-level approach, which assesses the frequency of all of fensive sex-related behaviors experienced by an individual within a given t ime period. However, this approach has several limitations, including obscu ring the etiology and impact of separate harassment incidents on a particul ar individual. Consequently, in the present study, a situation-specific app roach to the measurement of sexual harassment experiences, the Sexual Exper iences Questionnaire-Specific Experience version (SEQ-SE), was evaluated. R esults of confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the measure has adequ ate construct validity. In addition. the substantive information yielded by this measure indicated that it is an important tool in the investigation o f the prevalence and correlates of sexual harassment experiences. (C) 2001 Academic Press.