Street Harassment and Mental Health: Exploring the Consequences of Sexual Aggression in Public Spaces

• In Event: Hate and Stigma Associated Victimization

Abstract

Street harassment disproportionately affects women, particularly LGBTQ+ women and women of Color. While research indicates a link between street harassment and mental health outcomes, work in this area is scarce, and studies tend to focus narrowly on college samples composed primarily of white women. This study investigates the relationship between street harassment exposure and psychological distress among vulnerable sub-populations of cisgender women. We use a cross-sectional survey design (N=1,053) and oversample respondents from smaller racial groups and those with a high school education or lower. We measure street harassment exposure using the Gender-Based Public Harassment Scale (Sullivan, 2011) and psychological distress with the DASS-21 (Norton, 2007), and we analyze our data using path analysis. Initial findings reveal that Black, Multiracial, Hispanic, Lesbian, and Bisexual women experience elevated exposure to street harassment compared to white, non-Hispanic, heterosexual women. Moreover, increased exposure to street harassment is related to heightened feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress. These results emphasize that minority women are at a heightened risk for experiencing street harassment and that street harassment exposure is related to an array of deleterious mental health consequences.

Authors

• Sophia Shaiman, University of South Carolina

• Kaitlin Boyle, University of South Carolina