Relationship between Sexist Attitudes and Sexual Harassment: Investigating the Mediating Role of Authoritarianism
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This research aimed to investigate the inter-relational dynamics between ambivalent sexism, authoritarianism, and attitudes towards sexual harassment in young adult men. It was hypothesized that a) there would be correlations between the study variables, b) both ambivalent sexism and authoritarianism would predict sexual harassment attitudes and c) authoritarianism would mediate between ambivalent sexism and sexual harassment attitudes. Following APA-mandated research ethics, a sample of 239 young adult men (Mage= 24.34, SDage=2.97) was conveniently recruited and assessed through the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, the Aggression-Submission-Conventionalism Scale, and the Sexual Harassment Attitude Scale. Findings indicated that while sexual harassment attitudes were found to be negatively related to ambivalent sexism, they had a positive relationship with authoritarianism. Further, authoritarianism appeared to predict sexual harassment attitudes and also emerged as a partial mediator between ambivalent sexism and sexual harassment attitudes. The findings of this research offer considerable implications for academicians, researchers, gender experts and policymakers as it provides them with the latest empirical and apt results.
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