1. Attachment and Coping Style: Understanding Responses to Sexual
Harassment
Marie Elaine Ortega, Dr. Marissa Knight
Introduction Discussion
Results
Measures
Participants
 Participants were 73 female college students
between the ages of 18-23 who enrolled in a
General Psychology Class
 Students volunteered as part of their
required coursework.
 All participants were biologically female and
identified their gender as female.
 Sexual Experiences Questionnaire DoD:
 Captures the experiences with sexual and sexist
gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention,
and sexual coercion. (Fitzgerald et al.,1999)
SexistH: α=.83; SexualH: α=.91; USA: α=.85;
SCo: α=.95
 Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire:
 10 item questionnaire used to capture the number
of childhood traumatic events experienced.
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
2009)
 Rev Adult Attachment Scale CRV:
 18 item scale indicating the general feelings
towards close relationships. (Collins, 1996)
 SH Vignette:
 Hypothetical scenario of sexual harassment
 Participants asked to respond to the to imagine
they were the victim. (Weiss, & Lalonde, 2001)
 COPE Brief Inventory:
 self report of the coping behaviors that would be
used after the scenario of harassment
 Behavioral disengagement, substance use,
denial, use of emotional support, planning, self-
blame, active coping bullet (Carver, 1997)
 Likelihood of Reporting Sexual Harassment Scale:
 32 item self-report including proactive behaviors,
perceived weight of social pressures, and self-
perceived likelihood of reporting. (Ortega, 2014)
 Bivariate Correlations: SCo had a positive
relationship with: SexistH: r(71)=.820, p<.01;
SexualH: r(71)=.434, p<.01; USA:
r(71)=.625, p<.01.
 Bivariate Correlations examined the
relationship between likelihood of reporting
scores and coping behaviors:
 Positive bx: seeking emotional support
r(70)=.433, p<.01, use of institutional
support r(70)= .364, p<.01, planning
r(70)=.408, p<.01, and active behavior
r(70)=.598, p<.01
 Negative bx: substance use r(70)= -.353,
p<.01, disengaging coping behavior r(70)=.
-415, p<.01, and self-blame r(70)= -.362,
p<.01.
 Sexual coercion and coping behaviors
 negatively correlation with active behavior
r(70)= -.362, p<.01, planning r(70)= -.319,
p<.01.
 GLM: likelihood and secure attachment =
(n(23), p=.055, p>.05); fearful-avoidant =
(n(20), p=.060, p>.05).
 Independent T-Test: likelihood and secure
attachment = (n(23),p=.055, p>.05); fearful-
avoidant = (n(20), p=.060, p>.05)
 Attachment and coping style have an
interactive relationship. This has been noted as
it pertains to stress management following
threatening situations. (Lopez et al., 2001;
Shapiro & Levendosky, 1999)
 Past research has observed that the inability of
adult victims of sexual trauma to manage
stress following the trauma are more likely use
maladaptive coping behaviors (Gutek & Koss,
1993; Weiss & Lalonde, 2001)
 Previous sexual harassment research has
focused on understanding the use of problem
versus emotion-focused coping styles (Weiss,
& Lalonde, 2001; Cortina, & Wasti, 2005)
 The purpose of this study is to better examine
the relationships between coping style,
attachment style, and the likelihood of reporting
an incident of sexual harassment. To the
author’s knowledge, this is the first attempt to
examine this in relation to the likelihood of
reporting sexual harassment.
References
 The likelihood of reporting decreased as rates of
harassment increased. This could mean either
there is a discrepancy between hypothetical
behavior and actual behavior when faced with
real harassment, or that women who indicated
they were more likely to report may have
experienced less sexual violence than other
women who choose not to. The later is supported
by the results, however discerning between these
two causes could not be done.
 Maladaptive coping behaviors showed strong
associations with a lower likelihood of reporting,
whereas the opposite was found with adaptive
coping behaviors.
 Attachment security and the likelihood of
reporting followed the predicted pattern, despite
the marginal difference in p value, supporting the
claim that secure attachment would be a stronger
indication of reporting harassment in comparison
to an insecure attachment style. Small sample
size may have limited this effect.
 Possible future directions should include
measures on systemic trust and social
perception. Personality theory would also provide
further insight to this topic.
 Limitations to this design include: a small sample
size which effected the distribution of attachment
styles, a small demographic, the use of a vignette
has less emotional impact than real harassment.
LRSH Scale was designed for this study; further
testing of internal validity and reliability will be
needed.
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Research Questions and
Hypotheses
Is there a relationship between attachment style and
likelihood of reporting sexual harassment?
Do certain types of coping styles indicate a likelihood
of reporting sexual harassment?
Will both coping and attachment style be predictors for
the likelihood or reporting harassment?
H1: Problem-focused coping style: Higher Likelihood;
Emotion-focused coping style: Lower Likelihood
H2:Secure attachment will be associated with a
higher likelihood to report harassment, whereas
Insecure attachment will be associated with the
opposite.
H3: The interaction between these factors will show
that attachment and coping style are indirect influences
on the perceived likelihood of reporting harassment