2. 296 CORTINA, FITZGERALD, DRASGOW praisal, and coping (Folkman & Lazarus, 1989; Lazarus & Stimulus Factors Folkman, 1984) maintain that “psychological stress … is a Universal. Elements influencing appraisals of sexual relationship between the person and the environment that is harassmentseveritycanfallintothreegeneralcategories.The appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her re- first category—stimulus factors—pertains to characteristics sources and endangering his or her well-being” (Lazarus & oftheharassingbehaviorsoroftheperpetratorofthosebehav- Folkman, 1984, p. 21; italics added). Due to subjective ap- iors.Theseincludethe intensity oftheexperience—thatis,the praisal, individuals and groups should differ in the degree frequency and duration of harassing incidents. Intensity also and kind of stress they experience in response to comparable dependsonthedegreetowhichthebehavioroccursinmultiple environmental demands and pressures (Lazarus & Folkman, forms(e.g.,sexistinsultscoupledwithunwantedsexualatten- 1984). When considering sexual harassment as a potential tion); takes place in contexts with restricted possibilities for stressor, cognitive appraisal partly explains how harassing escape; and is frightening (as opposed to simply annoying), behaviors that traumatize one woman may be of no conse- physical (rather than just verbal), focused solely on the target quence to another (Fitzgerald, Swan, & Magley, 1997). individual, and perpetrated by multiple individuals. Increases Several empirical studies (Langhout et al., 1999; Swan, inharassmentintensityleadwomentoappraiseharassingsitu- 1997; Swan, Fitzgerald, & Magley, 1996) tested this so- ations as more severe (Swan, 1997). cial-cognitive model of sexual harassment, examining stimu- lus , organizational , and individual factors that influence women’s subjective appraisal of the severity of harassing sit- Culturally salient. An additional stimulus element that uations. These studies confirmed that appraisal mediates the may be particularly salient to severity for Latinas is the relation between potentially harassing behaviors and not power of the perpetrator . Latin individuals traditionally en- only psychological distress but also job dissatisfaction, orga- dorse the cultural script of “respeto,” which prescribes defer- nizational commitment, and health conditions. ence to and respect for individuals holding positions of Research on sexual harassment severity has involved higher prestige, recognition, and power in society. Further, largely White/European American samples. Thus, such evi- being in a high “power-distance” culture, Latinos typically dence can illuminate the perspective of the “reasonable” emphasize and respect social hierarchy, responding differ- White/European woman or person, 2 but it would be prema- ently to individuals at distinct levels of the social structure ture to assume that the same models extend to people of (Hofstede, 1980; Triandis, 1994; Triandis, Marin, Lisansky, color. Additional unique, culture-specific factors may figure & Betancourt, 1984). Given this, competing hypotheses are prominently into ethnic minority and immigrant women’s plausible. A Latina may feel more intimidated or threatened appraisals of sexual harassment. Cervantes and Castro by high-power individuals, and therefore appraise harassing (1985) argued that “the stressfulness of exposure to a sym- behavior from powerful others as more severe. Alternatively, bolic potential stressor depends on its culturally learned Latinas may perceive authority figures as entitled to exercise meaning and its contextual implications” (pp. 6-10). Thus, their social power, thus appraising sexual harassment from cultural factors may influence a woman’s subjective ap- organizational authorities as somewhat expected and norma- praisal of sexually harassing behavior as “stressful.” tive—and therefore less severe. The ingroup status of the perpetrator represents a third potentially relevant stimulus factor. Reflecting the cultural REVISED THEORETICAL MODEL script of personalismo , Latin individuals typically prefer to relate with people in their own social group—or An integration of harassment research with the more general ingroup—and their behavior toward members of groups they literature on Latin culture can inform theories of the Latina perceive as outgroups tends to be indifferent or dissociative harassment-appraisal process. In the following we present a (Triandis, 1990, 1994). Further, Latinas and Latinos tradi- more detailed description of Swan and colleagues’ (Swan, tionally endorse simpatía , having high expectations for 1997; Fitzgerald, Swan, & Magley, 1997) severity model and smooth and pleasant ingroup relations (Triandis, 1994); dis- suggest new constructs to adapt it to Latina experiences. Spe- ruption of this ingroup harmony is a serious violation of a cifically, this project builds on their work by examining not cultural norm. Due to such ingroup-outgroup distinctions only universal elements that likely affect women of many and norms, Latina appraisals of the severity of harassing be- cultures, but also issues with particular salience to Latina haviors may vary as a function of the group membership of women. We operationally define severity as the extent to the perpetrator, with offensive behaviors originating from which a woman appraises a harassing behavior as upsetting, ingroup members evaluated as more severe. intimidating, embarrassing, and so forth. Contextual Factors 2 Following the precedent set in Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. (1993), courts gauge the severity of sexually harassing situations by attempting to Universal. Contextual factors represent characteristics view them from the perspective of a “reasonable” woman or person. ofthecontextororganizationinwhichtheharassingbehaviors
3. LATINA EXPERIENCES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT 297 occur.Importanthereistheorganization’s toleranceofsexual ous violation of cultural norms. Therefore endorsement of harassment , as evidenced by refusal to take complaints seri- more traditional or conservative attitudes toward sexuality ously, risk to the victim for reporting, and lack of meaningful may exacerbate the severity of unwanted, gender-related sanctions for perpetrators. The gender context of the job (e.g., workplace behavior for Latina employees. male-to-female ratio, supervisor gender) can further com- An additional individual factor that could be critical in de- pound severity. In sum, research suggests that women tend to termining Latina appraisals of severity is their acculturation evaluatetheirexperiencesofsexualharassmentasmoresevere level . 3 Reviewing the divergent existing literature, Rogler, in organizations with tolerant attitudes toward harassment, Cortes, and Malgady (1991) cited evidence for positive, neg- gender segregation, and skewed gender ratios (Fitzgerald, ative, and curvilinear relations between Latin acculturation Drasgow, et al., 1997; Fitzgerald, Drasgow, & Magley, 1999; and distress. Thus, although the exact nature of this relation Glomb,Munson,Hulin,Bergman,&Drasgow,1999;Magley, remains unclear, evidence suggests that levels of accultura- Langhout, Williams, Cortina, & Fitzgerald, 1998; Wasti, tion somehow determine levels of distress that Latinas feel in Bergman, Glomb, & Drasgow, 2000; Zickar, 1994). general, and possibly in response to specific stressors such as sexual harassment. Culturally salient. Sexual harassment may feel more severe for Latinas working in organizational environments This Study where other types of harassment are present , particularly Our study assessed how these universal and culturally salient racial harassment (Fitzgerald, Swan, & Magley, 1997). A factors affect subjective appraisal of sexual harassment. Con- variety of studies have documented that experiences of ra- sistent with Swan and colleagues’ (Swan, 1997; Fitzgerald, cial harassment and prejudice on the job contribute to mi- Swan, & Magley, 1997) theory, we posited that outcomes of nority workers’ general job-stress and stress-related distur- sexual harassment would hinge on this appraisal. In other bances (e.g., Gutierres, Saenz, & Green, 1994; James, words, this study tested the notion that cognitive processes 1994; Padilla, Cervantes, Maldonado, & Garcia, 1988). mediate the relation between sexually harassing behaviors Latinas may therefore appraise sexually harassing behav- and individual outcomes. iors as more severe in climates that communicate tolerance We expected a pattern of sexual harassment outcomes of racially harassing behavior. similar to that documented in extensive past research, with Similarly, research indicates that “solo status” and the job satisfaction and psychological distress mediating rela- proportion of ethnic minority to majority group members af- tions to more distal outcomes (Fitzgerald, Hulin, & Drasgow, fect job outcomes for ethnic minority workers (e.g., James, 1995; Fitzgerald et al., 1997, 1999; Glomb, Richman, Hulin, 1994), including job stress levels (Gutierres et al., 1994). & Drasgow, 1997; Glomb et al., 1999; Magley, Langhout, This suggests that the ethnic context of the job (e.g., ethnic ra- Williams, Cortina, & Fitzgerald, 1998; Wasti et al., 2000). tios) could affect minority workers’ appraisals of workplace Central to this outcome conceptualization is a pattern such stressors much in the same way that job-gender context does. that organizational withdrawal results from lowered job sat- Specifically, Latinas may appraise harassing situations more isfaction and increased psychological distress (consistent negatively in non-Latin dominant environments. with the longitudinal work of Hanisch & Hulin, 1990, 1991). More generally, past theory and research suggest that sexual harassment directly affects outcomes tied to the harassing Individual Factors context (e.g., satisfaction with work in that context) but has indirect influences on outcomes that are further removed Finally, theory holds that a host of individual factors (i.e., from the situation (e.g., satisfaction with one’s personal life; characteristics of the targeted individual) can contribute to Magley et al., 1998). We proposed a similar configuration of appraisals of harassment severity. Because these factors ap- proximal and distal outcomes of sexual harassment, with job pear highly sensitive to cultural variation, we will present satisfaction and psychological distress mediating effects on them only under the heading of “culturally salient.” job withdrawal, work withdrawal, and life satisfaction. Because employees often experience negative conse- Culturally salient. One individual factor that should quences from workplace stressors other than sexual ha- prove particularly salient to Latinas is attitudes toward sexu- rassment, we also examined nonsexual stressors (i.e., per- ality . Unlike institutions such as the family that have evolved sonal experiences of job stress and racial harassment) to from traditional, patriarchal models, sexual norms remain determine whether they represented alternative explana- quite traditional and relatively male-dominated in Latin soci- tions for lowered job satisfaction, depression, poor health, ety (Baird, 1993; Gomez, 1994; Marin & Gomez, 1995; Marin, Gomez, & Hearst, 1993). In this context, Latinos may 3 Here, acculturation refers to Latin values, norms, attitudes, and behav- perceive a woman’s experience of sexual harassment simply iors changing as a function of exposure to the mainstream cultural patterns as sexual contact with a man who is not the husband—a seri- of the United States.
4. 298 CORTINA, FITZGERALD, DRASGOW FIGURE 1P roposed model of relations among severity factors, subjective appraisal, and outcomes. and so forth. Figure 1 presents a detailed outline of our or without additional vocational training; 45.1%) to college theoretical model. and beyond (22.8%). In terms of job characteristics, participants’ average ten- ure was 3 years. Their supervisors were roughly evenly di- METHOD vided by gender (48% female) and Latin background (47% Latin). Over three fourths of workgroups were Latin- or fe- Participants male-dominant. Participants worked in the following occu- pations: childcare or teaching (9%); clerical/office work We surveyed 476 Latinas, 446 of whom came from public (31%); factory or warehouse (9%); housekeeping (6%); res- adult schools or job-training centers in the San Diego and taurant, fast food, or grocery store (13%); retail (7%); man- Chicago greater metropolitan areas. These institutions pri- agement (2%); and “other” (23%). Because Latinas in this marily offer vocational, language, and high school equiva- country primarily work in low-status, blue-collar, or ser- lency degree courses. In the interest of surveying women not vice-delivery jobs (Garcia & Marotta, 1997; Herrera & pursuing formal educational or vocational development, we DelCampo, 1995; Rojas & Metoyer, 1995), this sample recruited an additional 30 women at a San Diego area flea should represent an appropriate starting point for addressing market. Following missing-data imputation (detailed later) the sexual harassment of Latinas in the United States. and list-wise deletion, complete data from 184 participants were available for model testing. This subsample represented a notable reduction from the full sample, because it includes Procedure harassed women only. We invited women to participate in 60-min group survey-ad- Of these 184 women, approximately 75% were age 30 or ministration sessions. Inclusionary criteria were (a) Latina younger, 60% were single, and 30% were married. Partici- background, (b) current employment, and (c) age 18 or older. pants’families originated from the following countries: Mex- They received both written and oral instructions, in both Eng- ico (90.2%), Central America (3.2%), Puerto Rico (1.6%), lish and Spanish, about the anonymous survey and their Cuba (0.5%), and “other” (4.3%). 4 Average acculturation rights and roles as participants. They then completed pa- levels, as measured by the Short Acculturation Scale for His- per-and-pencil surveys in either language, depending on their panics (Marin, Sabogal, Marin, Otero-Sabogal, & Perez-Sta- stated preference (within our final subsample of 184 partici- ble, 1987), were low to moderate (with a possible range of pants, 48% chose to complete the survey in Spanish, and 52% 8-40, M = 19.59, SD = 8.25). Education levels ranged from chose English). 5 These surveys did not request any informa- less than a high school diploma (32.1%), to high school (with 5 Prior to pooling data from English- and Spanish-responding Latinas, 4 Ideally, analyses would have been conducted separately for Mexican we tested for group differences in association among variables of interest. Americans, Central Americans, Cuban Americans, and so on, given the het- Specifically, using the LISREL (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1993) framework em- erogeneity of Latin subgroups. However, sample sizes were too small for ployed throughout the article, we tested a two-group model that constrained such analyses in most groups. Mexican Americans represented the only ex- the English-responder and Spanish-responder correlation matrices to be in- ception, as they constituted most of the sample; nevertheless, because path variant. The model with this equality constraint fit the data very well, analyses of complex models require large samples, it was statistically pru- χ 2 (120, N = 184) = 135.34, p = .16 (SRMSR = .076), suggesting comparable dent to retain as many participants as possible for analysis. relations across language.
5. LATINA EXPERIENCES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT 299 tion that could identify individual participants. Female Uni- no , ? , or yes (with ? indicating “cannot decide”). Two previ- versity of Illinois researchers, as well as native Span- ous administrations of the Harassment Intensity Scale ish-speaking women from the local communities, facilitated yielded coefficient αs of .74 and .79 (Swan, 1997). We stan- these sessions in both English and Spanish and assisted par- dardized and summed SEQ-L and Harassment Intensity ticipants with apparent reading or writing difficulties. Survey Scale items into a composite measure of objective character- respondents received $10 for their participation. istics of sexually harassing behavior. The Perpetrator Power Scale (Swan, 1997) gauged the or- ganizational power of the primary harasser involved in the Instruments SEQ-L situations. Specifically, it assessed his ability ( no , ? , Following are brief descriptions of all scales, which we or yes ) to affect various aspects of the respondent’s job—for scored such that higher values reflect higher levels of the un- example, “pay raises,” “chances of moving up in the com- derlying construct. We summed items or subscales measur- pany,” and “performance evaluations.” Previous studies re- ing each construct into composite scores. All job-related ported reliability coefficients of .82 (Swan, 1997) and .90 scales instructed participants to respond with respect to their (Fitzgerald, Magley, et al., 1997) for this scale. current jobs only. Scales developed by Swan (1997) were Attempting to assess the primary harasser’s membership specifically designed to be brief and accessible to popula- in the victim’s ingroup (prior to the harassment), we em- tions with limited education. Partly with this concern in ployed a single social distance item. This item asked the re- mind, we chose other measures for the brevity and simplicity spondent “to describe [her] relationship with this man … of their wording and response format. BEFORE he bothered” her; response options ranged from 1 ( extremely distant [like an enemy] ) to 7 ( very close [like a spouse or parent] ). Measurement of stimulus factors. We employed the behaviorallybasedSexualExperiencesQuestionnaire-Latina (SEQ-L; Cortina, 2001) to assess the frequency of partici- Measurement of contextual factors. The Organiza- pants’experiencesofgenderharassmentandunwantedsexual tional Tolerance for Sexual Harassment (OTSH; Hulin, 1993; attention. 6 The SEQ-L represents an adaptation of Fitzgerald Hulin,Fitzgerald,&Drasgow,1996;Zickar,1994)andOrgani- andcolleagues’(1988)SEQ,whichiswidelyconsideredtobe zational Tolerance for Racial Harassment (OTRH; Ormerod et themostreliableandvalidmethodforassessingsexualharass- al., 1998) inventories measured organizational climate or cul- ment(Arvey&Cavanaugh,1995;Beere,1990;Paludi,1990). ture. The creators of these measures based them on Naylor, Fitzgerald et al. (1988) reported SEQ coefficient αs ranging Prichard, and Ilgen’s (1980) conceptualization of climate as from .86 to .92, and a test-retest reliability coefficient of .86. sharedperceptionsofcontingenciesbetweenindividualbehav- TheSEQ-LcontainsSEQitemsthatareparticularlysalientto iors and organizational consequences. These scales presented Latinaharassmentexperiences(e.g.,“tolddirtyorsexuallyof- participantswiththreesexuallyharassingandthreeraciallyha- fensive stories or jokes”), as well as new items that measure rassingscenarios,respectively.Followingeachscenario,partic- culturally salient manifestations of sexual harassment (e.g., ipantsreported—on5-pointscalesrangingfrom1( stronglydis- “ calledyouinappropriate‘petnames’in Spanish [forexample, agree ) to 5 ( strongly agree )—their perceptions of risk for ‘ mamacita’or‘myhija’]”).FollowingstandardSEQprotocol, complaining about such a scenario, likelihood that complaints instructionsaskedrespondentshowfrequentlytheyhadexpe- would be taken seriously, and chances that meaningful sanc- riencedanyofthebehaviorsfromamalecoworker,supervisor, tions would be imposed on the harasser. Previous studies or other man in their workplaces during the previous 2 years; yieldedcoefficientαsof.96(Fitzgerald,Drasgow,etal.,1997) 5-point response options ranged from 1 ( never ) to 5 ( most of and .97 (Swan, 1997) for the OTSH, and .96 for the OTRH the time ). The sample represented a validation sample for the (Ormerod et al., 1998). Complete accounts of the development SEQ-L; this and other scale-development information ap- andvalidationoftheseinstrumentsappearinHulinetal.(1996), peared in Cortina (2001). Ormerod et al. (1998), and Zickar (1994). The Harassment Intensity Scale, developed by Swan To parallel the SEQ-L, we developed two new scenarios (1997), measured additional objective characteristics of the to measure individual perceptions of Organizational Toler- harassing situations described on the SEQ-L. These charac- ance for Sexual-Racial Harassment (OTSRH; harassment teristics include predictability, sexuality, ambiguity, ease of with both sexual and racial content). 7 Previous focus group escape, and individual focus (as opposed to harassment tar- geting groups). When asked whether these descriptions char- 7 Onenewscenariodepictedasituationinwhichanon-Latino,Whiteem- acterized their SEQ-L experiences, participants responded ployee often stared at Latina employees in a sexual way, called them “ mamacita” and “ mi amor,” and described Latinas as very sexual, “ hot-blooded,” and “loose.” In the second scenario, a non-Latino, White su- 6 Items assessing a third type of sexual harassment—sexual coer- pervisor routinely touched Latina employees (but not non-Latina, White em- cion — were not included in this survey due to very low base rates and sur- ployees) inappropriately—putting an arm around their shoulders, “acciden- vey-length concerns. tally” brushing against them, and so on.
6. 300 CORTINA, FITZGERALD, DRASGOW interviews conducted with Latinas provided scenario content Measurement of Outcome Variables (see Cortina, 2001, for a description of focus group proce- Participants described psychological and physical health dures). Questions and response options following these sce- symptoms via the depression, anxiety, and somatization narios resembled those of the OTSH and OTRH. We summed subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & all of the organizational tolerance items into one composite Spencer, 1983). These items asked them to indicate how fre- score, with higher scores reflecting greater intolerance of quently during the previous 7 days each of a list of symptoms sexual, racial, and sexual-racial harassment. (e.g., “feeling sad,” “spells of terror or panic,” “faintness or Participants described their coworker gender ratio and su- dizziness”) had “distressed or bothered” them. Responses pervisor gender, and we standardized and summed these two fell along a 5-point scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 5 ( ex- items into a measure of workgroup gender composition. tremely ). 8 Extensive psychometric evaluations support the They also responded to parallel items gauging the Latin reliability and validity of this measure, with subscale αs and background of their workgroup, resulting in a workgroup test-retest coefficients as high as .85 and .91, respectively ethnic composition scale. Thus, higher scores on these two (e.g., Derogatis & Melisaratos, 1983; Derogatis & Savitz, scales reflect more feminine, Latin job contexts. This method 2000; Derogatis & Spencer, 1983). of assessing job context parallels that used by the U.S. Merit We employed the widely used Satisfaction With Life Systems Protection Board (1981, 1987) in their large-scale Scale (SWLS; Diener, 1984; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & surveys of sexual harassment. Griffin, 1985) to gauge participants’ global sense of subjec- tive well-being. This measure asked them to indicate (on a 7-point Likert scale) their agreement with five statements Measurement of individual factors. We assessed ac- about their lives in general, such as “if I could live my life culturation with the language use and media subscales of over, I would change almost nothing.” Diener and col- the Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (Marin et al., leagues (1984, 1985) reported that SWLS items show high 1987), measuring the extent to which participants had in- internal consistency (coefficient α = .87) and temporal reli- tegrated mainstream American culture into their lifestyles. ability (2-month test-retest correlation coefficient = .82), Sample items include “what language(s) do you speak at have a unidimensional structure, and correlate appropriately home?” and “in what languages are the radio programs with personality scales. you usually listen to?” with 5-point response scales rang- We assessed job satisfaction via abbreviated versions of ing from 1 ( only Spanish ) to 5 ( only English ). Research the widely used work, coworker, and supervision subscales has documented the reliability (Cronbach’s α = .92) and of the Job Descriptive Index (JDI; Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, validity of this measure for both Mexican Americans and 1969; revised by Roznowski, 1989). The JDI scales asked re- Central Americans, including individuals with limited ed- spondents to indicate ( no , ? , or yes ) whether each of a series ucation. Further, the scale correlates appropriately with of descriptors (e.g., “boring,” “slow,” “praises good work”) generational status, length of residence in the United characterized their work, coworkers, and supervisors. The States, age at arrival, and ethnic self-identification (Marin JDI is the most widely used measure of job attitudes and sat- et al., 1987). isfaction, and extensive psychometric evaluation supports it We assessed participants’ attitudes toward feminine sex- reliability (αs exceeding .80) and relation to organizationally uality using six items from Burt’s (1980) sexual conserva- relevant variables (Cranny, Smith, & Stone, 1992; tism scale (Cronbach’s α = .81; sample item: “ a nice Roznowski, 1989; Smith et al., 1969). woman will be offended or embarrassed by dirty jokes”). Using adapted versions of scales developed by Hanisch We further supplemented this scale with one Athansou and (1990) and Hanish and Hulin (1990, 1991), we measured Shaver (1969) item concerning the appropriateness of ex- both job and work withdrawal. The former instrument asked tramarital sexual relationships. Participants responded to all participants to describe turnover thoughts and intentions on a items on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) 5-point scale (sample questions include “how often do you to 5 ( strongly agree ). think about QUITTING your job?” and “all things consid- ered, how desirable is it for you to QUIT your job?”; labels on the response scale vary with each question). In the latter Measurement of appraisal. To assess subjective ap- instrument, participants indicated how often they avoided praisal of sexual harassment severity, the Feelings Scale tasks associated with their work roles—for example, “miss- (Swan, 1997) asked respondents whether they had experi- ing meetings,” “being late for work,” “taking frequent or long enced a list of negative affective responses (e.g., “angry,” coffee or lunch breaks”; responses to these items fell along an “ embarrassed,” “disgusted,” “ashamed”) to the harassment 8-point scale ranging from 0 ( never ) to 8 ( more than once a described on the SEQ-L, to which they indicated no, ? , or yes . Swan (1997) modeled this scale after Folkman and Laza- rus’ (1985) emotions scale, and found coefficient αs of .91 8 Due to formatting errors in the printing of the response scale for one de- and .93 in two independent studies. pression item, this item was dropped from all analyses.
7. 301 LATINA EXPERIENCES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT week ). Hanisch (1990) and Hanish and Hulin (1990, 1991) Sijtsma (2000). If a participant skipped one item on a scale discussed the development and validation of these scales, re- with nine or fewer items, or up to two items on a scale with porting average coefficient αs of .70 (job withdrawal) and .60 more than nine items, then the missing response was im- (work withdrawal) and linking prior job attitudes to subse- puted. Participants whose missing data exceeded these limits quent withdrawal. (e.g., skipped two or more items on a nine-item scale) were dropped from analyses involving those scales. Following these guidelines, we imputed data for 64 participants. 10 Measurement of control variables. To provide a baselinemeasureofglobal occupationalstress ,againstwhich sexual harassment outcomes could be compared, we used theR ESULTS Stress in General Scale (Smith, Sademan, & McCrary, 1992). This scale simply presents a list of adjectives (e.g., “hectic,” Summary Statistics “ tense,” “relaxed”), and respondents indicate ( no, ? , or yes ) whether each term characterized their jobs. Smith and col- Table 1 presents means, standard deviations, and coefficient leagues (1992) provided strong evidence of the reliability and αs for all scales used in the current study. Pearson prod- convergent and discriminant validity of this measure. uct-moment correlations among these variables appear in In an attempt to tease apart effects of sexual harassment Table 2. from those due to racial harassment, we also measured the latter as a covariate. Specifically, we adapted the 10 most Initial Model psychometrically sound items 9 from Ormerod’s (1999) Ra- cial Experiences Questionnaire (REQ). Sample behaviors as- We analyzed covariances among the variables in Figure 1 via sessed by these items include “crude or offensive racial re- path analysis, in which the observed variables are assumed to marks” and “remarks that people of your race were not represent the latent constructs perfectly. Path analysis does capable of doing certain types of jobs.” The format of this not incorporate a measurement model and thus can be ap- scale paralleled that of the SEQ-L, with participants re- plied to smaller samples. The major drawback of this ap- sponding on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 ( never ) to 5 proach is the inability to partial out effects of measurement ( many times ). Ormerod (1999) discussed the development error before estimating structural relationships. Thus, we and validation of this measure. supplemented these traditional path analyses with a proce- dure that corrects for the unreliability (estimated based on Cronbach’s α) of measured variables. This second procedure Translation yields structural coefficients that are less attenuated by mea- AllscalesthatdidnotalreadyexistinSpanishweresubmitted surement error. to double translation, using a committee approach To assess data-model fit, we turned to a number of indexes (Brislin,1980; see also Marin & Marin, 1991; Werner & that appear in Table 3. The standardized root mean square re- Campbell, 1970; Triandis, 1994). This included the SEQ-L, sidual(SRMSR)androotmeansquareerrorofapproximation BriefSymptomInventory,REQ,OTRH,OTSRH,workgroup (RMSEA) measure the extent that the model fails to fit the ethnic composition, and sexuality attitude items. After all data; values close to zero suggest fewer problems of misfit. translating was complete, three linguists independently re- LISREL’s Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) and Adjusted Good- viewedallitemsinbothlanguagesandmadefinaladjustments ness-of-Fit-Index(AGFI)assesstheamountofvariationinthe to maximize the clarity and linguistic equivalency of the Eng- observed variables that is explained by the model. The com- lish and Spanish versions, eliminate any remaining parochial parativefitindex(CFI)comparesthefitoftheestimatedmodel wording, and modify wording that they judged to be too so- against that of a more restrictive baseline model. The GFI, phisticated for Latin populations with limited education. AGFI,andCFIrangefromzerotoone;valuesclosertooneim- plyabetterfit.Theoverallchi-squarestatisticallowsforcom- parison of nested models, with significant changes in Missing-Data Imputation To adjust for missing data, we used two-way imputation (Bernaards & Sijtsma, 2000). This method adjusts for both person and item effects and proved to be the most effective 10 We re-ran all path analyses on the subset of 120 participants with valid, nonmissing data on all items (i.e., excluding the 64 participants with im- data-imputation procedure of those studied by Bernaards and puted data). Covariance matrices and parameter estimates were nearly iden- tical to those described in the Results section of this article, with the sole ex- 9 Specifically, we conducted principal components analyses of ception being the path between job satisfaction and job withdrawal. This Ormerod’s (1999) Racial Experiences Questionnaire, based on data col- standardized beta coefficient increased by a magnitude of .10 (i.e., from -.36 lected from an independent sample (see Ormerod, 1999, for sample details). to -.46) in the unimputed data. Because this difference does not change any We then selected the 10 items that displayed the highest loadings on the first substantive conclusions that we draw from the full subsample ( N = 184), we principal component. retained the imputed data in subsequent analyses.
8. 302 CORTINA, FITZGERALD, DRASGOW TABLE 1 Summary Statistics for All Constructs Construct No. Items Range M SD α Stimulus factors Sexual harassment 28 28-124 49.60 18.37 .95 Perpetrator power 6 6-18 10.30 4.05 .86 Perpetrator social distance 1 1-7 3.17 1.64 — Contextual factors Organizational intolerance for harassment 23 23-115 80.64 18.66 .94 Workgroup gender composition a 2 -3.20 - 2.31 -.007 1.68 .58 Workgroup ethnic composition a 2 -2.10 - 2.86 .005 1.67 .57 Individual factors Acculturation 8 8-40 19.59 8.25 .93 Sexuality attitudes 7 7-35 21.05 5.46 .75 Subjective appraisal 15 15-45 28.73 9.21 .93 Outcome variables Psychosomatic symptoms 18 18-90 34.96 13.16 .92 Life satisfaction 5 5-35 18.79 7.36 .86 Job satisfaction b 18 0-81 56.89 15.56 .87 Job withdrawal 5 6-38 16.39 5.63 .69 Work withdrawal 12 0-96 6.66 8.49 .81 Control variables Job stress 9 0-27 9.87 7.66 .85 Racial harassment 10 10-50 13.80 6.50 .93 Sexual harassment phenomenology a 43 -32.36 - 105.25 5.31 26.52 .96 a We standardized these items (with differing response scales) prior to summing them. Because the full sample ( N = 462) is larger and more representative of Latina working women than the subsample ( n = 184) used in path analyses, we based item-standardization on the full sample. b Following standard Job Descrip- tive Index scoring procedures, we scored these items such that no = 0, ? = 1, and yes = 3. chi-squarevaluesanddegreesoffreedomindicatingimprove- tions of this behavior, using terms (e.g., frightening, offen- ments or decrements in fit. Finally, a rank-ordering of the sin- sive, crude) that overlap with appraisal items. The evaluative gle-sample Expected Cross Validation Index (ECVI; Browne words qualify behavioral items because the simple occur- & Cudeck, 1989) permits comparison of nonnested models; rence of a particular event does not necessarily constitute the lowest ECVI indicates the best fit. sexual harassment. Rather, the behavior must occur and the We used LISREL 8 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1993) to im- targeted woman must experience it as abusive (e.g., offen- plement maximum likelihood estimation. Figure 2 presents sive, upsetting, threatening). both traditional and disattenuated standardized path coeffi- Due to the overlap between sexual harassment and subjec- cients, and Table 4 shows the proportion of variance ac- tive appraisal items, we standardized and combined them counted for in each endogenous variable. The fit of this ini- into a single construct termed sexual harassment phenomen- tial model proved problematic, particularly with the ology (with higher scores indicating more experientially se- SRMSR and RMSEA both being greater than .10. We vere harassment). The final rows of Tables 1 and 2 present noted a systematic pattern among the standardized residuals summary statistics and Pearson product-moment correla- that suggested a possible source of model misspecification. tions for this new construct. Figure 3 presents the model with Specifically, 87% of large standardized residuals (we arbi- this initial revision and its path coefficients. According to fit trarily defined large as exceeding three in absolute value) indexes in Table 3, model misspecification problems per- involved relations to and between sexual harassment and sisted. Further, the standardized residuals remained exceed- subjective appraisal. Swan (1997) observed a similar pat- ingly large. tern of residuals in her model, which also included these two constructs. Final model revision. Furtherexaminationoftheresid- ualmatrixrevealedaverylargeresidualbetweenracialharass- Initial model revision. A careful inspection of the ment and sexual harassment phenomenology, suggesting the items measuring sexual harassment and appraisal revealed need for a path to explain the structural relationship between considerable overlap. The two scales underlying the former these two constructs. Although we originally conceptualized construct—the SEQ-L and Harassment Intensity racial harassment simply as a covariate to account for Scale—were both developed to measure objective character- nonsexual workplace stressors, this result suggested a more istics of sexually harassing behavior (Fitzgerald et al., 1988; central role of racial harassment in Latina experiences of sex- Swan, 1997). However, they also request subjective evalua- ualharassment.Thispossibilitywouldbeconsistentwiththe-
10. 304 CORTINA, FITZGERALD, DRASGOW TABLE 3 Fit Indexes (n = 184) Original Initial Revised Final Revised Model Model Model SRMSR .100 .074 .069 RMSEA .110 .090 .073 GFI .87 .90 .92 AGFI .78 .81 .85 CFI .66 .77 .85 χ 2 (degrees of freedom) 241.69 (79) 157.78 (65) 126.79 (66) ECVI 2.03 1.53 1.34 Note . AGFI = Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index; CFI = comparative fit index; ECVI = expected cross validation in- dex; GFI = Goodness-of-Fit Index; RMSEA = root mean squared error of approximation; SRMSR = standardized root mean squared residual. FIGURE 2Original structural model with traditional standardized path coefficients (and disattenuated standardized path coefficients in brackets). Solid arrows indicate statistically significant path coefficients (p < .05). Dashed arrows indicate nonsignificant path coefficients. ory that nonsexual forms of harassment in the workplace can data equally well, we also tested several alternative models. exacerbatetheseverityoftheexperienceofsexualharassment The first of these analyzed the mediating role of sexual ha- (Fitzgerald, Swan, & Magley, 1997). Thus, we revised the rassment phenomenology more directly—following proce- model with the racial harassment construct predicting sexual dures recommended by Holmbeck (1997) for testing mediat- harassment phenomenology rather than outcomes. ing effects in a structural equation modeling framework. This According to the indexes in Table 3, this Final Revised model included direct paths from all exogenous variables to Model achieved substantial improvement over the original job satisfaction and psychosomatic symptoms. A chi-square and initial revised models (note, in particular, the decrease in difference test, χ 2 (16, N = 184) = 25.37, p > .05, suggested the ECVI from 1.53 to 1.34) and reasonably fit the data. The that this model failed to achieve significant improvement SRMSR and RMSEA were both around .07, and the GFI was over the Final Revised Model, bolstering our conceptualiza- .92, which is generally considered good. Further, the AGFI tion of phenomenology as a mediator. and CFI indicated adequate fit. Importantly, only one stan- We tested a second alternative model that denoted a sim- dardized residual exceeded three in absolute value. pler structure among outcomes. Here, sexual harassment phenomenology related directly to all outcome variables, Consideration of alternative models. Recognizing such that job satisfaction and psychosomatic distress no lon- the possibility that alternative structures could fit these same ger mediated relations to job withdrawal, work withdrawal,
11. and life satisfaction. With an ECVI of 1.57—exceeding that ther an improvement in fit (ECVI = 1.36) nor any meaningful of the Final Revised Model (1.34)—this alternative model change in path coefficients, when compared to the Final Re- demonstrated a decrement in fit. This finding supports the vised Model. Thus, we retained the Final Revised Model configuration of proximal and distal harassment outcomes with its directional climate-harassment path—an equally vi- depicted in Figure 3. able model that is consistent with extensive past research on Finally, we tested a third alternative model in which the sexual harassment processes (Fitzgerald et al., 1995; Fitzger- relation between organizational climate and sexual harass- ald, Drasgow, et al., 1997; Fitzgerald et al., 1999; Magley et ment phenomenology was modeled by a simple correlation al., 1998; Wasti et al., 2000). rather than a directional path. This model recognized the pos- sibility of reciprocal causation between these two variables, with negative climates facilitating sexual harassment, experi- SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION ences of sexual harassment fostering negative perceptions of climate, and so forth. However, this alternative conceptual- ThefinalpathmodelyieldedinterestinginsightintoLatinaha- ization of the climate-harassment relation accomplished nei- rassment experiences, largely supporting our hypotheses. TABLE 4 Proportion of Variance Accounted for in Each Endogenous Variable Initial Original Revised Final Revised Model Model Model Sexual harassment .10 — — Subjective appraisal .35 — — Sexual harassment phenomenology — .40 .50 Sexuality attitudes .00 .00 .00 Psychosomatic symptoms .07 .11 .10 Life satisfaction .16 .16 .16 Work withdrawal .05 .05 .05 Job withdrawal .16 .16 .16 Job satisfaction .17 .18 .18 FIGURE 3I nitial revised structural model with traditional standardized path coefficients (and disattenuated standardized path coefficients in brack- ets). Solid arrows indicate statistically significant path coefficients (p < .05). Dashed arrows indicate nonsignificant path coefficients. 305
12. 306 CORTINA, FITZGERALD, DRASGOW Taken together, exogenous variables explained 50% of the endorse less traditional, more feminist beliefs. Feminist at- variance in sexual harassment phenomenology. The strongest titudes could foster greater awareness about sexual factorassociatedwithexperientiallyseveresexualharassment harassment, leading women to appraise harassing behaviors was racial harassment in the same workplace. This lends sup- more negatively when they arise. This would be consistent port to Fitzgerald and colleagues’ (Fitzgerald, Swan, & with Brooks and Perot’s (1991) finding of a relation be- Magley,1997)contentionthatsexualharassmentexperiences tween feminist ideology and perceived offensiveness of maybemoredistressingwhenoccurringagainstabackdropof sexual harassment. Further exploration of attitudes, beyond other types of harassment in the workplace. On a related note, those measured in our study, could shed additional light on Latinas’ phenomenological experience of sexual harassment this issue. was more severe in climates that tolerated not only sexual but Contrary to expectations, the conservatism of Latina atti- alsoracialandsexual-racialharassment.Alloftheserelations tudes toward women’s sexuality neither varied with their ac- couldbereciprocal,withsexualharassmentexperienceswors- culturation levels nor affected their experiences of sexual ha- ening later racial harassment experiences and climate percep- rassment. Low sexual conservatism in this sample cannot tions. In fact, evidence of such possibilities is beginning to explain this effect; in fact, responses to the attitude scale were emerge,withGlombandcolleagues(1999)documentingacli- approximately normally distributed, with a mean falling al- mate-harassment-climate “ feedback loop.” The current most exactly at the midpoint of the range. Perhaps these model, which represents only one point in time, does not dis- women did not view their own experiences of sexual harass- pute this pattern; it simply captures a static, cross-sectional ment as a violation of Latin cultural norms proscribing conceptualization of these relationships. Future longitudinal women’s extramarital sexual contact. An interesting question research should further test for mutual influences and expli- for future research is whether other conservative Latinos, cate the complexity of sexual harassment processes. More particularly male family members, perceive women’s sexual generally, these relations from racial harassment experience harassment experiences as parallel to extramarital sexual in- and climate to sexual harassment experience may generalize volvement, and thus condemn women for those experiences. to non-Latina women of color, suggesting additional promis- This again speaks to the need for research on Latinas’ social ing directions for future research. support networks, particularly as they relate to sexual harass- Perpetrator power also proved to be a strong correlate of ment phenomenology. the severity of the harassment experience, possibly reflecting Significant relations emerged between severity of the sex- fears of job-related retaliation for resisting harassment from ual harassment experience and both job satisfaction and psy- organizational leaders. Alternatively, targets could fear po- chosomatic symptoms, over and above the effects of ambient tential sexual coercion, as more powerful perpetrators may jobstress.Specifically,moresevereharassmentphenomenol- have greater ability to make targets’ job conditions contin- ogy was associated with lowered satisfaction with work, co- gent on sexual cooperation. This power effect was consider- workers,andsupervisors,aswellasincreaseddepressive,anx- ably stronger than that documented by Langhout and col- ious, and somatic symptoms among Latinas. Interestingly, leagues (1999) in a largely non-Latina, White, military psychosomaticeffectswerestrongerthanjobeffects.Further, sample. This stronger relation between power and harass- psychosomatic symptomatology strongly related to dissatis- ment phenomenology might reflect Latinas’heightened sen- factionwithlifeingeneral.Thissuggeststhatstressfulexperi- sitivity to differences in the social structure, due to their high ences in the very narrow context of the workplace can trigger “ power distance” culture that emphasizes respeto (Marin & symptoms of psychological distress, which in turn can Triandis, 1985; Triandis, 1994; Triandis et al., 1984). dampenthemoreglobalexperienceofsubjectivewell-being. In terms of acculturation, as Latinas became more affili- Finally, this study suggests that sexual harassment re- ated with mainstream White American culture, they experi- lates to job withdrawal (i.e., turnover intentions) via its re- enced harassment as more severe. Rogler and colleagues lation with job satisfaction. Likewise, harassment associ- (1991) suggested an explanation for why stressors might in- ates with work withdrawal by way of psychosomatic crease in severity as acculturation increases. Specifically, as functioning, such that the greater the severity of harass- Latinas acculturate in the United States, they may encounter ment, the more absenteeism, tardiness, neglect of inessen- conflict with Latin family and friends who remain tradi- tial tasks, and other forms of withdrawing from day-to-day tional, and consequently become alienated from social sup- work duties. Similar to Fitzgerald and colleagues’ (Fitzger- port networks. Absent social support, stressors such as sex- ald, Drasgow et al., 1997) findings, no significant relations ual harassment may “ feel” more severe. To test this emerged between job satisfaction and work withdrawal, or hypothesis directly, future investigations of Latina harass- between psychosomatic functioning and job withdrawal. ment experiences could assess social support systems and their relations to harassment phenomenology. Sexual Harassment and Appraisal A second possible explanation for the positive associa- tion between acculturation and severity could be feminist This research raised an interesting discriminant validity issue attitudes: as Latinas become more acculturated, they may that would apply to surveys of sexual harassment in any pop-
13. 307 LATINA EXPERIENCES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT ulation. We were unsuccessful in our attempts at teasing ries attempt to take the victim’s perspective and decide apart sexual harassment and cognitive appraisals of sexual whether a “reasonable,” similarly situated individual (i.e., in- harassment, and closer examination of these constructs sug- dividual with a sociocultural background and life history gested that behavioral sexual harassment instruments like the similar to the victim’s) would find the alleged situation suffi- SEQ (Fitzgerald et al., 1988) already incorporate elements of ciently severe to constitute a “hostile environment.” The appraisal. Barak (1997) summarized reasons for this: courts can thus benefit from research demonstrating which elements of the work environment are salient to harassment … sexual harassment is a complicated phenomenon, one that severity for specifically situated individuals. This study incorporates both objective (behaviorally or legally based) serves as a starting point, illuminating situational and indi- definitions as well as subjective perceptions and interpreta- vidual factors that exacerbate the severity of Latina sexual tions. Definitions of concepts and terms such as “hostile en- harassment experiences. vironment,” “unwelcome advances,” or “sexual intention,” Finally, we hope that this study will facilitate harassment which are common in definitions of sexual harassment, are prevention and intervention efforts in ethnically diverse heavily dependent on people’s perceptions, labeling, attribu- workplaces. Our model underscores the severity of harass- tions, judgments, and interpretations of events. (p. 278) ment from high-status individuals, suggesting that organiza- tions should be particularly vigilant about interpersonal Thus, existing survey measures of objective characteristics abuses originating from the top of the organizational hierar- (such as frequency and number of behaviors) of a sexually chy. We also demonstrate the interdependent nature of differ- harassing situation and the individual’s appraisal of the situa- ent types of harassment—a result similar to findings that sex- tion (as offensive, frightening, upsetting, etc.) appear meth- ualharassmenttendstoco-occurwithmoregeneric,low-level odologically conflated with one another. This does not neces- harassment (e.g., general incivility, rudeness, derision; sarily imply that the experience and appraisal of this stressor Cortina et al., 2002). Thus, perhaps organizational interven- represent a unitary phenomenon. Two mechanisms could still tions should combine to address the many behavioral faces of underlie sexual harassment phenomenology—with the be- interpersonal mistreatment—be it sexualized, racialized, or havioral experience of harassment triggering cognitive ap- generalized. Such an integrated strategy may achieve greater praisal—consistent with Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) the- efficiency and impact, and would more adequately reflect the ories. However, the self-report, survey paradigm may be multidimensionalrealityofworkplacevictimization.Thisap- unable to “tease apart” the two mechanisms, which may of- proach might also reach broader audiences, being relevant to ten unfold too closely in time for targets to distinguish be- bothwomenandmenandavoidingtheresistancemetbyinter- tween them. Future research should focus on the develop- ventions exclusively targeting sexual harassment, racial ha- ment of innovative methods for measuring and rassment, gay harassment, and so on. discriminating between these two constructs. Limitations Legal and Organizational Implications As with any research, these results are not without their limi- We designed this study not only to address academic ques- tations. First, certain biases come with a convenience sample tions, but also to inform legal policy and organizational inter- largely comprised of adult education students. For example, ventions. Although Title VII employment law typically treats although poor students can and do attend these public different forms of discrimination as discrete phenomena, schools, extremely poor individuals have more difficulty at- women of color often experience sexual harassment as a tending due to child care or transportation limitations or the manifestation of both gender and race discrimination need to work multiple jobs. Conversely, this sample con- (Murrell, 1996). Women of color bear an added cognitive tained very few college-educated or professional Latinas. burden when enduring the aversive experience of workplace Thus, our results are most applicable to literate, work- harassment, as they attempt to assess what effects their gen- ing-class Latinas at low and moderate acculturation levels, der and ethnicity (among other identities) have on their expe- who live and work in Latin-dominant environments. riences; this decision then determines what organizational Our sample size of 184 was somewhat small for the testing and legal remedies may be available to them. However, the of complex models, resulting in suboptimal statistical power. reality for many of these women is that they can no more dis- However,almostallnonsignificantpathsinthesemodelswere sect their experiences into such neat categories than they can near-zero, suggesting that greater power would not have ren- dissect themselves. This study attempts to accommodate this deredthemsignificant.Thesoleexceptiontothiswastherela- reality by illuminating the separate and joint effects of sex- tion between psychosomatic symptoms and job withdrawal, ual, racial, and sexual-racial harassment. with traditional and disattenuated standardized path coeffi- Regarding legal remedies, courts now follow the prece- cientsof.13and.16,respectively(seeFigure4).Withalarger dent set in Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993) by considering sample, this path could emerge significant, which would be subjective criteria in Title VII claims. That is, judges and ju- consistentwithpastresearchlinkingpsychologicaldistressto
14. 308 CORTINA, FITZGERALD, DRASGOW FIGURE 4 Final revised structural model with traditional standardized path coefficients (and disattenuated standardized path coefficients in brackets). Solid arrows indicate statistically significant path coefficients ( p < .05). Dashed arrows indicate nonsignificant path coefficients. jobturnover(e.g.,Baba,Jamal,&Tourigny,1998;Gephardt& Further, the lack of a non-Latina comparison group Crump, 1990; Seongsu & Feldman, 1998). among survey respondents may be viewed as both a Although extensive theory supported the initial path strength and a weakness. Cultural psychologists (e.g., model and all modifications, these modifications still may Shweder, 1990) argue for in-depth examination of phenom- simply have capitalized on chance. Our restrictive modifica- ena within cultural groups to address group-specific pro- tion strategy (i.e., only allowing modifications with strong cesses, and some cross-cultural psychologists (e.g., substantive justification, and even then, only allowing two Betancourt & Lopez, 1993) contend that within-group modifications) should help protect us against this possibility study is necessary before meaningful comparisons can be (MacCallum, 1986; MacCallum, Roznowski, & Necowitz, drawn to other groups. However, this within-group ap- 1992). Nevertheless, until cross-validated in an independent proach prevents strong cross-cultural inferences. Such com- Latina sample, our findings clearly remain preliminary. In parative conclusions must await future cross-cultural or addition—due to the single-source, self-report nature of the cross-ethnic research. data—common method variance, response consistency bias, Finally, sexual harassment is a dynamic process, involv- or negative affectivity could potentially explain relationships ing experiences, response strategies, and outcomes that un- between harassment and outcomes. However, the wide range fold over time. However, the cross-sectional nature of our of correlations, including near-zero correlations, among data precluded examination of temporal aspects of the sex- model variables argues against a common method variance ual harassment experience; instead, we captured a “snap- explanation of findings. shot” of this process. Also, the correlational nature of these Measurement problems may have interfered with the abil- data limits any causal inferences. However, considerable ity to detect key relations. For example, our single social dis- theory supported our interpretations, and previous longitu- tance item could represent an inadequate indicator of ingroup dinal work (e.g., Glomb, Munson, Hulin, Bergman, & membership, and the reliability of certain other measures Drasgow, 1999; Munson, Hulin, & Drasgow, 1998) pro- (e.g., job withdrawal, sexuality attitudes) was somewhat low. vided strong evidence that our job and psychosomatic out- Analyses that partialed out effects of unreliability helped ad- comes follow sexual harassment. Nevertheless, we ac- dress this concern. Inspection of variable distributions also knowledge that alternative models could potentially explain suggests some violations of assumptions of multivariate nor- relationships in these data as well as our Final Revised mality, which could potentially have biased our estimates of Model. Rather than viewing this work as the definitive standard errors. statement on the subject, we argue that we have proposed
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