Local social norms and military sexual stressors: do senior officers' norms matter?
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relative importance of harassment-tolerant norms emanating from troops senior officers, immediate supervisors, and units on troops' sexual stressor experiences and to see whether associations differed by sex.


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey of all 681 willing and confirmed active duty troops enrolled in the VA National Enrollment Database between 1998 and 2002. Findings extended an earlier analysis.


RESULTS
After adjusting for other significant correlates, senior officers' perceived tolerance of sexual harassment was not associated with the severity of sexual harassment troops reported (p = 0.64) or with the numbers of sexual identity challenges they reported (p = 0.11). Harassment-tolerant norms emanating from troops' units and immediate supervisors were associated with reporting more severe sexual harassment and more sexual identity challenges (all p < 0.003). Findings generalized across sex.


CONCLUSIONS
Senior officers' norms did not appear to affect troops' reports of military sexual stressors, but unit norms and immediate supervisors' norms did.
Murdoch
Maureen
M
Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research Section General Internal Medicine, Minneapolis VA Medical Center and Department of Internal Medicine, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, One Veterans Drive (111-0), Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA.
Pryor
John Barron
JB
Polusny
Melissa Anderson
MA
Gackstetter
Gary D
GD
Ripley
Diane Cowper
DC
D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D012945:Social Values; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States