Longitudinal prediction of sexual harassment and sexual assault by male enlisted Navy personnel

Abstract

Using longitudinal survey data, this study explores patterns and predictors of the sexual harassment and sexual assault of women by male Navy personnel (N = 573) in their second year of service. A modifiversion of the Malamuth Confluence Model, informed by the Navy Sexual Assault Continuum of Harm, was used to predict both types of sexual aggression. Perpetration of sexual assault was significantly associated with perpetration of sexual harassment (Odds ratio = 4.66), and a common set of risk factors could be used to predict both types of sexual aggression. In a longitudinal evaluation of the relative importance of multiple risk factors (hostility toward women, impersonal sex, heavy drinking, delinquency/misconduct, and hypermasculinity), both prior levels of risk and recent increase in risk across multiple factors significantly predicted second-year sexual harassment and sexual assault. Furthermore, current harassment perpetration partially mediated the effects of other risk factors on current sexual assault perpetration. These results support the hypothesis that sexual harassment is both a part of the spectrum of sexual aggression and an important independent risk factor for sexual assault perpetration by male service members. Military public health efforts should continue to target the modifiable risk factors for sexual aggression identified in this study.

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