Sexual Harassment and Victimization from Four Other Types of Interpersonal Aggression in Ghana: A Cycle of Victimization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12928/jehcp.v9i1.14195Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate victimization from sexual harassment, and level of emotional distress due to it, are associated with four other types of victimization. A questionnaire was completed by 280 female university students and lecturers in Ghana. The mean age was 26.7 years (SD = 6.2). The questionnaire included scales for measuring frequency of sexual harassment, emotional distress due to sexual harassment, physical punishment during childhood, victimization from peer aggression at school, and victimization from intimate partner aggression. Respondents who were more than average victimized from sexual harassment scored significantly higher on physical punishment during childhood, victimization from peer aggression at school (revictimization), and victimization from intimate partner aggression (multiple victimization).When frequency of sexual harassment was controlled for, emotional distress caused by sexual harassment correlated positively with victimization from peer aggression at school, and victimization from verbal intimate partner aggression, thus suggesting sensitization to aggression. Victimization from sexual harassment was associated with higher levels of both previous and simultaneous victimization from other types of aggression, thus corroborating the principles of both revictimization and multiple victimization. The finding does not suggest that sexual harassment in all cases is associated with other types of victimization.
Keywords: sexual harassment, revictimization, emotional distress, Ghana
References
Afifi, T. O., Mota, N. P., Dasiewicz, P., MacMillan, H. L., &Sareen, J. (2012). Physical punishment and mental disorders: Results from a nationally representative US sample. Pediatrics, 130, 184−192.doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2947
Amoakohene, M. I. (2004). Violence against women in Ghana: A look at women’s perceptions and review of policy and social responses. Social Science and Medicine, 59, 2373–2385.doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.04.001
Andoh, A. K. (2001). Sexual harassment in the workplace: The Ghanaian experience. Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana. http://www.oocities.org/cspslibrary/sexualharassment.html
Aniwa, M. (1999). Prevalence. In D. Coker-Appiah, & K. Cusack (Eds.), Breaking the silence and challenging the myths of violence against women and children in Ghana (pp. 50–71). Accra, Ghana: Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Center.
Antiri, K. O. (2016). Types of bullying in the senior high schools in Ghana. Journal of Education and Practice, 7, 131−138.
Anwar, F. (2016). Emotional Distress due to Sexual Harassment Scale (EDSH). Ã…bo Akademi University, Vasa, Finland.
Ardayfio-Schandorf, E. (2005). Violence against women: The Ghanaian case. Violence against women: A statistical overview, challenges and gaps in data collection and methodology and approaches for overcoming them.Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and World Health Organization (WHO) Geneva, Switzerland.
Aryeetey, E. B. D. (2004). Coming to terms with sexual harassment in Ghana. Institute of Statistical, Social & Economic Research, University of Ghana, Legon.
Asante, K. O., &Andoh-Arthur, J. (2015). Prevalence and determinants of depressive symptoms among university students in Ghana. Journal of Affective Disorders, 171, 161−166. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.09.025
AuerbachWalker, L. E., & Browne, A. (1985). Gender and victimization by intimates. Journal of Personality, 53, 179–195. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1985.tb00363.x
Avina, C., &O'Donohue, W. (2002). Sexual harassment and PTSD: Is sexual harassment diagnosable trauma? Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 69−75. doi:10.1023/A:1014387429057
Baldry, C. A. (2003). Bullying in schools and exposure to domestic violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27, 713–732.doi:10.1016/S0145-2134(03)00114-5
Björkqvist, K., & Österman, K. (2014). Does childhood physical punishment predispose to a “victim personalityâ€.Pediatrics & Therapeutics, 4:190. doi:10.4172/2161-0665.1000190
Björkqvist, K., Österman, K., & Berg, P. (2011). Higher rates of victimization to physical abuse by adults found among victims of school bullying. Psychological Reports, 109, 167–168.doi:10.2466/02.07.11.16.PR0.109.4.167-168
Campbell, R., Greeson, M. R., Bybee, D., & Raja, S. (2008). The co-occurrence of childhood sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and sexual harassment: A mediational model of posttraumatic stress disorder and physical health outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 194.doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.76.2.194
Civil Society Coalition. (2014). NGO Shadow report to 6th & 7th Periodic Report of Ghana on Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.UN CEDAW Committee, Geneva, Switzerland.
Coid, J., Petruckevitch, A., Feder, G., Chung, W. S., Richardson, J., &Moorey, S. (2001). Relation between childhood sexual and physical abuse and risk of revictimisation in women: A cross-sectional survey. The Lancet, 358, 450–454.doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(01)05622-7
Coker, A. L., Davis, K. E., Arias, I., Desai, S., Sanderson, M., Brandt, H. M., & Smith, P. H. (2002). Physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence for men and women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 23, 260–268.doi:10.1016/S0749-3797(02)00514-7
CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. (1979, December). United Nations Treaty Series, 1249, No.20378, p. 13. https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&clang=_en
Corboz, J., Hemat, O., Siddiq, W., &Jewkes, R. (2018). Children's peer violence perpetration and victimization: Prevalence and associated factors among school children in Afghanistan. PLOS ONE, 13, e0192768. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192768
Doku, D. T., & Asante, K. O. (2015). Women’s approval of domestic physical violence against wives: Analysis of the Ghana demographic and health survey. BMC Women's Health, 15, 113–120.doi:10.1186/s12905-015-0276-0
Domestic Violence Act-732. (2007). An Act to provide protection from domestic violence particularly for women and children and for connected purposes. Criminal and Penal Law of Ghana. http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=88525&p_classification=01.04
Duong, M. T., Schwartz, D., Chang, L., Kelly, B. M., & Tom, S. R. (2009). Associations between maternal physical discipline and peer victimization among Hong Kong Chinese children: The moderating role of child aggression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 957–966.doi:10.1007/s10802-009-9322-4
Durrant, J. E. (2000). A generation without smacking: The impact of Sweden's ban on physical punishment. London, UK: Save the Children.
Dussich, J. P., &Maekoya, C. (2007). Physical child harm and bullying-related behaviors: A comparative study in Japan, South Africa, and the United States. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 51, 495–509.
European Commission. (2016). Data protection. Rules fortheprotection of personal datainside and outside the EU. Retreivedfromhttps://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en
Finkelhor, D., &Dziuba-Leatherman, J. (1994). Victimization of children. American Psychologist, 49, 173–183.doi:10.1037/0003-066X.49.3.173
Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R. K., & Turner, H. A. (2007). Re-victimization patterns in a national longitudinal sample of children and youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 479–502. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.03.012
Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (2012). Responsible conduct of research and procedures for handling allegations of misconduct in Finland. Helsinki: Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity.
Gladstone, G. L., Parker, G. B., &Malhi, G. S. (2006). Do bullied children become anxious and depressed adults?: A cross-sectional investigation of the correlates of bullying and anxious depression. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194, 201–208.doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000202491.99719.c3
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. (2019a). Global progress towards prohibiting all corporal punishment. http://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/legality-tables/Global-progress-table-commitment.pdf
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. (2019b). Corporal punishment of children in Ghana. http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/
Henriksen, C. B., Mattick, K. L., & Fisher, B. S. (2015). Repeat victimization. The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, 1–4. doi:10.1002/9781118519639.wbecpx036
Hofstede, G., Hofstede G. J., &Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. Revised and expanded 3rd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Holt, M. K., Finkelhor, D., & Kantor, G. K. (2007). Multiple victimization experiences of urban elementary school students: Associations with psychosocial functioning and academic performance. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 503–515.doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.12.006
Hyland, M. E., Alkhalaf, A. M., &Whalley, B. (2013). Beating and insulting children as a risk for adult cancer, cardiac disease and asthma. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 36, 632–640.doi:10.1007/s10865-012-9457-6
Ilahi, N. (2009). Gendered contestations: An analysis of street harassment in Cairo and its implications for women’s access to public spaces. Surfacing: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Gender in the Global South, 2, 56–69.
Iyer-Eimerbrink, P. A., Scielzo, S. A., & Jensen-Campbell, L. A. (2015). The impact of peer victimization. Journal of Bullying and Social Aggression, 1, 1–22.
Jaghoory, H., Björkqvist, K., & Österman, K. (2013). Extreme physical punishment in the home and its associations with aggression and victimization at school: A study among young adolescents in Iran. Pediatrics & Therapeutics, 3,5. doi:10.4172/2161–0665.1000182
Kamal, A., & Tariq, N. (1997). Sexual harassment experience questionnaire for workplaces of Pakistan: Development and validation. Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 12, 1−20.
Klomek, A. B., Sourander, A., Niemelä, S., Kumpulainen, K., Piha, J., Tamminen, T., Almqvist, F., & Gould, M. S. (2009). Childhood bullying behaviors as a risk for suicide attempts and completed suicides: A population-based birth cohort study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 48, 254–261. doi:10.1097/CHI.0b013e318196b91f.
Kyei-Gyamfi, S. (2011). Corporal punishment in Ghana. In R. Ame, D. Agbenyiga, & N. Apt,(Eds.): Children’s rights in Ghana: Reality or rhetoric? (pp. 77–97) Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
MacCaskie, T., C. (2003). State and society in pre-colonial Asante, 79. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Madan, M., & Nalla, K. M. (2016). Sexual harassment in public spaces examining gender differences in perceived seriousness and victimization. International Criminal Justice Review, 26, 80‒97. doi:10.1177/1057567716639093
Mahama, I. (2004). History and traditions of Dagbon. Tamale, Ghana: GILLBT Printing Press.
Merkin, R. S. (2012). Sexual harassment indicators: The socio-cultural and cultural impact of marital status, age, education, race, and sex in Latin America. Intercultural Communication Studies, 21, 154.
Neupane, G., & Chesney-Lind, M. (2014). Violence against women on public transport in Nepal: Sexual harassment and the spatial expression of male privilege. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 38, 23–38. doi:10.1080/01924036.2013.794556
Odumah, L. (2013). Investigating bullying as a violation of human rights among students in Ghanaian senior high schools. Research on Humanities and Social Science, 3.
Österman, K. & Björkqvist K. (2009). Direct Indirect Aggression Scales for Adults (DIAS-Adult). Vasa, Finland: Åbo Akademi University.
Österman, K., & Björkqvist, K. (2007). Brief Physical Punishment Scale (BPPS). Åbo Akademi University, Vasa, Finland.
Österman, K., & Björkqvist, K. (2010). The Mini Direct Indirect Aggression Inventory (Mini-DIA). In K. Österman (Ed.), Indirect and direct aggression (pp. 103‒111). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang.
Österman, K., Björkqvist, K., & Wahlbeck, K. (2014). Twenty-eight years after the complete ban on the physical punishment of children in Finland: Trends and psychosocial concomitants. Aggressive Behavior, 40, 568–81. doi:10.1002/ab.21537
Palm, A., Danielsson, I., Skalkidou, A., Olofsson, N., & Högberg, U. (2016). Violence victimization: A watershed for young women’s mental and physical health. The European Journal of Public Health, 26, 861–867. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckv234
Pelligrini, A., D. (2001). A longitudinal study of heterosexual relationships, aggression, and sexual harassment during the transition from primary school through middle school. Applied Developmental Psychology, 22, 119–133. doi:10.1016/S0193-3973(01)00072-7
Petrovic, M., Vasic, V., Petrovic, O., &Santric-Milicevic, M. (2016). Positive parenting attitudes and practices in three transitional Eastern European countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia. International Journal of Public Health, 61, 621–630.doi: 10.1007/s00038-016-0823-y
Sedziafa, A. P., Tenkorang, E. Y., &Owusu, A. Y. (2016). Kinship and intimate partner violence against married women in Ghana: A qualitative exploration. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33, 2197–2224. doi:10.1177/0886260515624213
Söderberg, P., Bjorkqvist, K., & Österman, K. (2016). Exploring the effects of physical punishment on aggressive behavior and peer victimization: A conditional process analysis. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 8, 21–32. doi:10.1108/JACPR-09-2015-0187
Tomsich, E., Jennings, W. G., Richards, T. N., Gover, A. R., & Powers, R. A. (2015). Childhood physical maltreatment and young adult dating violence: A propensity matching approach. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32, 3475–3496. doi:10.1177/0886260515599657
Twum-DansoImoh, A. (2013) Children’s perceptions of physical punishment in Ghana and the implications for children’s rights. Childhood, 20, 472–486.doi:10.1177/0907568212471404
US Department of State. (2017). Ghana 2017 human rights report. https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/277535.pdf
Widom, C. S., &Maxfield, M. G. (2001). An update on the ‘cycle of violence’ research in brief. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice, NCJ 184894. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/184894.pdf.
World Health Organization. (2012). Understanding and addressing violence against women: Overview. http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/violence/vaw_series/en/
World Medical Association. (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 79, 373−374.
Wyatt, G. E., &Riederle, M. (1994). Sexual harassment and prior sexual trauma among African-American and White American women. Violence and Victims, 9, 233–247.
Zamir, O., Szepsenwol, O., Englund, M. M., & Simpson, J. A. (2018). The role of dissociation in revictimization across the lifespan: A 32-year prospective study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 79, 144–153. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.02.001
Zottis, G. A., Salum, G. A., Isolan, L. R., Manfro, G. G., & Heldt, E. (2014). Associations between child disciplinary practices and bullying behavior in adolescents. Jornal de Pediatria, 90, 408–414. doi:10.1016/j.jped.2013.12.009
