2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

Metrics of Unprofessional, Gender-Related Behavior
The 2002 WGR contains 19 behaviorally-based items intended to represent a continuum
of unprofessional, gender-related behaviors—not just sexual harassment—along with an open
item for write-in responses of “other gender-related behaviors.” The 18 question sub-items can
be grouped into three primary types of behaviors: (1) Sexist Behavior, (2) Sexual Harassment,
and (3) Sexual Assault. The sexual harassment behaviors can be further categorized as: (1)
Crude/Offensive Behavior, (2) Unwanted Sexual Attention, and (3) Sexual Coercion. The 12
sexual harassment behaviors are consistent with the U.S. legal system’s definition of sexual
harassment (i.e., behaviors that could lead to a hostile work environment and others that
represent quid pro quo harassment). Service members were asked to indicate if any of these
behaviors happened to them in the past 12 months. The rates of unprofessional, gender-related
behaviors are based on these items. However, details are not asked regarding all behaviors.
Rather, details are obtained about a specific situation only from those who had experienced some
behaviors in the past year. Service members were asked to pick the one situation that had the
greatest effect on them from the list of 19 unprofessional, gender-related behaviors. Service
members were asked to indicate, in the situation that affected them most, whether the offender
“did this” or “did not do this” for each item. Those analyzed in this paper represent those
members who experienced at least one behavior and chose to answer the questions pertaining to
the one situation with the greatest effect.
Results
Types of Behaviors
Figure 1 shows that in 2002, over half of the women and one-third of the men indicated
that multiple types of behaviors occurred in the one situation, with the remainder of them
reporting only that Sexist Behavior, Crude/Offensive Behavior, or Unwanted Sexual Attention
occurred. Both women and men reported experiencing Sexual Coercion and Sexual Assault only
in combination with other behaviors. In 2002, Sexist Behavior was the most commonly
experienced type of behavior occurring alone for women (26%), whereas Crude/Offensive
Behavior was most commonly experienced by men (48%). While levels were different in 1995
with fewer combinations, the overall pattern was very similar.
209
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003