Abstract
Research has continually linked experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault to negative health, social and psychological outcomes for both men and women. The current study explored the relationship between power differentials, gender role, and coping strategies with quality of life of survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault using a sample of 132 college students (52.3% female, 47.7% male, (mean age = 35.59, SD = 11.08). In the final model, only two variables were statistically significant, with avoidance coping having the highest beta value (B = 0.36, p = .016) followed by self-punishment coping (B = -0.33, p = .009). Findings did not support a relationship between gender role (B = 0.05, p = .241), harassment power differentials (B = 0.21, p = .069), assault power differentials (B = 0.09, p = .324), sex/gender (B = -0.27, p = .053), sexuality (B = -0.02, p = .885), or race/ethnicity (B = -0.06, p = .618) with quality of life. Results furthered understanding of predictive factors that influence a survivor’s quality of life following an incident of sexual harassment and sexual assault.