Workplace Sexual Harassment: An Exploratory Study of Prevalence, Perceptions, and Emotional Correlates

Sexual harassment (SH) remains a prevalent yet underreported form of gender-based violence, and more research is needed to understand how its impact may differ for women and men in specific cultural contexts. These two online studies on employed adults aimed to examine the prevalence, forms, and psychological correlates of SH victimization in Poland and to test whether the subjective importance of gender moderates its effects. In Study 1 (N = 115; 53 women), 78% of participants reported experiencing SH, with no gender differences in the impact of lewd comments or sexual coercion. In Study 2 (N = 389; 210 women), 66.8% reported SH experiences, with men reporting more SH behaviors than women. Gender importance moderated SH’s consequences: women with high and men with low gender importance reported greater distress and negative emotions. SH experiences and gender importance also predicted current negative mood. These findings highlight SH’s widespread occurrence and underscore the role of gender importance in shaping its psychological impact.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2026.2673948
Taylor & Francis on line