SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE AMERICAN WOMEN:  AN 
          ASSESSMENT OF THE EXPERIENCE, ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION 
                              OF BEHAVIORS



                         CAMILLE HAMLIN MITCHELL



                       Bachelor of Arts in French
                            Wellesley College
                               


                       Master of Arts in Education
                                 at the
                     Case Western Reserve University
                             


                 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN URBAN EDUCATION
              (SPECIALIZATION IN LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT)

                                 at the
                       CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY
                              
                                         
                                         
                                         
               cCopyright by Camille Hamlin Mitchell


                           All Rights Reserved

                 SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE AMERICAN WOMEN:  AN 
                 ASSESSMENT OF THE EXPERIENCE, ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION 
                                      OF BEHAVIORS
                                CAMILLE HAMLIN MITCHELL


                                   ABSTRACT
     
      This  study,  based  upon  ecological  systems  theory  and  
examining  a  
     microsystem level  model  of  sexual  harassment  recently  proposed  
by  
     Fitzgerald, Hulin, Drasgow (reproduced in Fitzgerald  & Shullman, 
1993), 
     investigated three areas  of the  sexual harassment  phenomenon: 1)  
the 
     experience of undergraduate women harassed by male teaching 
personnel; 2) 
     the attitude toward  sexual harassment  these women  hold; and  3) 
their 
     perception of sexual harassment depicted in scenarios.  
     A major goal  was the acquisition  of data  from undergraduate women  
of 
     color, a group essentially omitted from the related literature. 
       Sexual  harassment  experience  was  operationalized   by  
responses  to  
     behaviorally anchored items on the Sexual Harassment Questionnaire 
[SEQ] 
     created by.Fitzgerald and  Shullman (reproduced in  National 
Educational 
     Association, 1992). Attitude was measured  by responses to items  on 
the 
     Tolerance for Sexual Harassment Inventory [TSHI] (Lott, Reilly, & 
Howard, 
     1982). Perception was  assessed through  an abbreviated  version of  
the 
     "Factorial Survey" (Reilly, Carpenter, Dull & Barlett, 1982).
      Data was  collected anonymously  via a  mail survey.  The data  
from the  
     self-selecting respondent sample of 187 American female students 
(35% of 
     whom  were  women  of  color)  were  then  analyzed  using  
descriptive,  
     correlational, and  one-way analysis  of  variance statistical  
methods.  
     T-tests and chi-square analysis were employed to test the 
significance of 
     the relationships.  The study design was correlational. 
       The  results  on  experience  indicated  significant  differences  
among  
     groups of women and the ways women define and view their own 
experiences. 
     In addition, an  interesting disparity surfaced:  despite the  
amount of 
     actual experiences the  women in  the study  reported, they  
nonetheless 
     tended to define harassment in a very restrictive way when asked if 
they 
     had ever  been  sexually  harassed.  Findings also  indicated  that  
the  
     influence of  sexual orientation  might be  a  significant .variable  
to 
     investigate in future research on the problem.
      Results  on  attitude indicated  only  small differences  among  
racially 
     different groups.  No differences were found on the perception 
measure.
       Data  supported  the  hypothesis  that  the   way  a  student  
perceived  
     sexual harassment is positively related to the  attitude she holds 
about 
     sexual harassment; whereas  the amount  of sexual  harassment a  
student 
     reported was not related to the attitude she has about sexual 
harassment.