What determines the 'culture of silence'? Disclosing and reporting sexual harassment among university employees and students at a large Swedish public university.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The MeToo-movement challenges the 'culture of silence' regarding sexual harassment (SH). There are few studies regarding this phenomenon in academic settings. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between having reported or disclosed SH, on the one hand, and background factors and general health and wellbeing of exposed individuals, types of SH and perpetrator characteristics, on the other hand.

Methods and results

A questionnaire sent to all employees and students at a large Swedish university was returned by 33% (N = 2736) and 32% (N = 9677), respectively. This study is based on the 469 employees and 2044 students who affirmed that they had been exposed to SH at the university. Analyses were made by means of chi2 tests and logistic regression

SUBMITTER: Ostergren PO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11942412 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature