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Sexual jokes at school and psychological complaints: Student- and class-level associations.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Public Health Sciences, Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS).ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3573-6301
2021 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, ISSN 1403-4948, E-ISSN 1651-1905, Vol. 49, no 3, p. 285-291Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: Students who are subjected to sexual harassment at school report lower psychological well-being than those who are not exposed. Yet, it is possible that the occurrence of sexual harassment in the school class is also stressful for those who are not directly targeted, with potential negative effects on well-being for all students. Aim: The aim was to examine whether exposure to sexual jokes at the student level and at the class level was associated with students' psychological complaints, and if these associations differed by gender. Method: Data from the Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) of 2017/18 was used, with information from students aged 11, 13 and 15 years (N=3720 distributed across 209 classes). Psychological health complaints were constructed as an index based on four items. Exposure to sexual jokes at the student level was measured by one item, and at the class level as the class proportion of students exposed to sexual jokes, in per cent. Two-level linear regression analyses were performed.Results: Students who had been exposed to sexual jokes at school reported higher levels of psychological complaints, especially boys. Furthermore, the class proportion of students who had been exposed to sexual jokes was also associated with psychological complaints, even when adjusting for student-level exposure to sexual jokes, gender, grade and class size. Conclusions: Sexual jokes seem to be harmful for those who are directly exposed, but may also affect indirectly exposed students negatively. Thus, a school climate free from sexual jokes may profit all students.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 49, no 3, p. 285-291
Keywords [en]
Sexual harassment, contextual, health complaints, multilevel, school, students
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Research subject
Public Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-192221DOI: 10.1177/1403494820974567ISI: 000630159300001PubMedID: 33280530OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-192221DiVA, id: diva2:1544495
Note

Funding Agencies: Public Health Agency of Sweden; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (Forte) [2015-00399]

Available from: 2021-04-15 Created: 2021-04-15 Last updated: 2025-02-20Bibliographically approved

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Brolin Låftman, Sara

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