ArticleSSM - population health2019
Experiencing sexual harassment by males and associated substance use & poor mental health outcomes among adolescent girls in the US.
Article in SSM - population health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Operationalizing Street Harassment Using Survey Instruments: A Systematic Review of Measuring Harassment in Public Spaces Using Surveys.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2024Pooled it
- Invasion of privacy or structural violence? Harassment against women in public transport environments: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- "Proud To Be a Girl": A Mixed Methods Study of Feminist Identification and Beliefs About Feminism in Adolescent Girls.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Malleable and Static Risk Factors Associated with Boys' Patterns of Interpersonal Violence: A Latent Class Analysis.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2025Article
- Risky sexual behavior and self-rated mental health among young adults in Skåne, Sweden - a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Barriers to vulnerable adolescent girls' access to sexual and reproductive health.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Progress on Sustainable Development Goal 5 and improved health through better measurement.SSM - population health · 2019Article
- Improving gender data is essential for progress on equity and empowerment.SSM - population health · 2019Article
- Gender equality, empowerment and health: From measurement to impact.SSM - population health · 2019Article
- Cyber Sexual Harassment: Prevalence and association with substance use, poor mental health, and STI history among sexually active adolescent girls.Journal of adolescence · 2019Article
- Future Directions in Mental Health Treatment with Stigmatized Youth.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeAmong a sample of adolescent girls, we assessed: 1) prevalence of sexual harassment by type, place of occurrence, and perpetrators; 2) association with substance use and poor mental health outcomes; and 3) the proportion of girls experiencing sexual harassment in
methodsWe collected survey data from 159 sexually active girls (aged 15-19 years) recruited from an urban health clinic in Southern California. We used multivariable regression models to assess associations between sexual harassment in the past 6 months and the following outcomes: 1) substance use in past 30 days (alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana use, respectively); 2) other drug use ever; and 3) feelings of depression and anxiety, respectively, in past 30 days.
resultsAlmost two-thirds of girls (65.4%) reported experiencing sexual harassment in the past 6 months. Among those reporting recent harassment (n = 104), the abuse most frequently occurred in public spaces (on public transport [50.5%], at school [42.7%], and in their neighborhoods [39.8%]) and most often in the form of sexual comments, jokes, or gestures (57.2%), although 12.6% were "touched, grabbed, or pinched in a sexual way." The vast majority (82.7%) did not know the perpetrators (82.7%). Experiences of sexual harassment in the past 6 months were significantly associated with alcohol use (odds ratio [OR], 4.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.0-10.2), binge drinking (OR, 4.2; 95% CI, 1.8-9.8), and marijuana use (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.2-5.7) in the past 30 days; other drug use ever (OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 1.8-16.4); and feelings of depression (OR: 2.7; 95%CI: 1.3-5.5) and anxiety (OR: 2.6; 95%CI: 1.2-5.5) in the past 30 days. Just over half (55.3%) reported sexual harassment in more than one place, which was also associated with poor substance use and mental health outcomes.
conclusionsFindings suggest that sexual harassment experiences are pervasive, occur in girls' immediate and everyday environments, and are associated with girls' substance use and adverse mental health outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.