Marcos Verónica, Seijo Dolores, Montes Álvaro, Arce Ramón
Forensic Psychology Unit, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Children (Basel). 2023 Dec 24;11(1):23. doi: 10.3390/children11010023.
BACKGROUND/AIM: Sexual harassment has become a serious social and public health problem in adolescents, causing adverse effects on mental health. Nevertheless, some behaviours arise that, due to their characteristics, might be misinterpreted as sexual harassment. A field study using a survey with non-probabilistic accidental sampling was designed in order to estimate the prevalence of sexual harassment victimization in the Spanish adolescent population as well as to quantify the harms.
A total of 1028 Spanish adolescents, 54.3% females and 45.7% males aged 13-17 years ( = 15.21, = 1.03), responded to a diagnostic measure of sexual harassment victimization and an inventory measure of internalizing and externalizing mental health problems (MHPs).
The results showed a significant prevalence of diagnosed sexual harassment victimization of school-aged adolescents, 24.1%, 95% CI [0.215, 0.267], with adverse effects on internalizing and externalizing MHPs. As for the internalizing MHPs, the results exhibited moderate adverse effects on depression, anxiety, somatic burns, posttraumatic symptoms, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, as well as mild adverse effects on social anxiety. Regarding externalizing MHPs, the results revealed moderate adverse effects on hyperactivity-impulsivity, anger control, and antisocial behaviour, as well as mild adverse effects on attention problems, aggression, and defiant behaviour. In addition, it was confirmed that sexual harassment victimization affects adolescent females to a greater extent, with the effect being significantly greater in internalizing than in externalizing MHPs.
The results obtained are discussed and future lines of research and intervention are proposed to promote the implementation of prevention and intervention programs that address this phenomenon and, in turn, improve the physical, psychological, and social well-being of adolescents.
背景/目的：性骚扰已成为青少年中一个严重的社会和公共卫生问题，对心理健康产生不利影响。然而，一些行为因其特征可能被误解为性骚扰。本研究采用非概率偶遇抽样调查进行实地研究，旨在估计西班牙青少年人群中性骚扰受害情况的发生率，并量化其危害。
共有1028名西班牙青少年参与，其中女性占54.3%，男性占45.7%，年龄在13 - 17岁（平均年龄 = 15.21岁，标准差 = 1.03岁），他们对性骚扰受害情况的诊断量表以及内化和外化心理健康问题（MHP）的量表进行了作答。
结果显示，学龄青少年中确诊的性骚扰受害情况发生率显著，为24.1%，95%置信区间[0.215, 0.267]，对内化和外化MHP均有不利影响。关于内化MHP，结果显示对抑郁、焦虑、躯体不适、创伤后症状和强迫症状有中度不利影响，对社交焦虑有轻度不利影响。关于外化MHP，结果显示对多动冲动、愤怒控制和反社会行为有中度不利影响，对注意力问题、攻击行为和违抗行为有轻度不利影响。此外，证实性骚扰受害情况对青少年女性的影响更大，在内化MHP方面的影响显著大于外化MHP。
对所得结果进行了讨论，并提出了未来的研究和干预方向，以促进实施针对这一现象的预防和干预项目，进而改善青少年的身体、心理和社会福祉。
