Sexual harassment, sexual violence and subsequent depression and anxiety symptoms among Swedish university students: a cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To determine the gender-specific impact of recent exposure to different forms of sexual harassment and sexual violence (SHV) on depression and anxiety symptoms three, six, and nine months later.

Methods

We recruited 2229 women and 1274 men studying at Swedish universities and followed them with web-surveys every three months over one year. We estimated mean differences (MDs) of depression and anxiety symptoms between exposed and unexposed at each follow-up, adjusting for prior SHV, prior depression and anxiety symptoms and potential confounders.

Results

For women, sexual harassment (wide subjective definition) was associated with higher symptom levels of depression (MD 1.0 [95% CI: 0.3; 1.7]) and anxiety (MD 0.8 [95% CI: 0.3; 1.4]) three months later. Unwanted

SUBMITTER: Johansson F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11522111 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature