2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

Table 6
Frequency of Reporting Behavior in One Situation to Any Supervisor or Person Responsible
for Follow-up
Females Males
1995 38 15
2002 30 17
Margin of Error ±3 ±3
To Whom Behaviors Are Reported
Less than 10% of women and men chose to report unprofessional, gender-related
behavior to either a special military office responsible for these types of behaviors, or to another
installation/Service/DoD official. Rather, female and male Service members tend to report to
members in their chain-of-command, such as their immediate supervisor (Females 21%; Males
12%), or to the supervisor of the offender (Females 16%; Males. 10%) (see Tables 66a.1-66e.4
in Greenlees et al. (2003)). Among women, enlisted members were more likely than officers to
report unprofessional, gender-related behavior to someone in their chain-of-command (15-17%
vs. both 10%) or to a special military office responsible for these types of behaviors (7-8% vs.
both 3%) (see Tables 66a.4-66e.4 in Greenlees et al. (2003)).
Reasons for Not Reporting Behaviors
Service members were asked to indicate which of the 19 items explained why they chose
not to report any or all of the behaviors they experienced. The five reasons Service members
most frequently indicated for not reporting behaviors are shown in Table 7. Women (67%) and
men (78%) most often indicated that they did not report behaviors because they felt the situation
was not important enough to report. For detailed information on all 19 items, see Tables 74a.1-
74s.4 in Greenless et al. (2003).
Table 7
Top Five Reasons for Not Reporting Any or All Behaviors in One Situation
Females Males
Was not important enough to report 67 78
You took care of the problem yourself 65 63
You felt uncomfortable making a report 40 26
You did not think anything would be done if you reported 33 28
You thought you would be labeled a troublemaker if you reported 32 22
Margin of Error ±2 ±3
Junior enlisted women were more likely than other women to indicate they did not report
behaviors because they felt uncomfortable (48% vs. 30-36%), thought they would not be
believed (22% vs. 11-16%), thought coworkers would be angry (31% vs. 16-20%), did not want
to hurt the person (34% vs. 16-26%), or were afraid of retaliation from the offender (28% vs. 18-
19%) (see Tables 74a.1-74s.4 in Greenlees et al. (2003)). In contrast, more junior enlisted men
indicated they did not report because it would take too much time (29% vs. 11-17%).
Reasons for Not Reporting Behaviors by Reporting Category
For those Service members who reported either none of the behaviors or only some of the
behaviors, this section includes an analysis of Service members’ reasons for not reporting
215
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003