Unpacking Peer Sexual Harassment: Roles, Trajectories, and Contexts from Childhood to Adolescence

Abstract

Peer sexual harassment (PSH) is a common form of unwanted sexualised peer be-haviour during adolescence, yet it has often been studied as a relatively uniform phenomenon. This thesis examines PSH during the transition from childhood to adolescence by distinguishing between patterns of role involvement, developmental patterns of victimisation, and context- and gender-specific associations with psycho-logical symptoms and safety-related behavioural restrictions. Across three empirical studies based on data from the Swedish school-based PRISE project, PSH is exam-ined as a differentiated developmental peer phenomenon. Study I used five annual waves from the original cohort (N = 372; Grades 4–8) to examine overlap and tran-sitions in PSH victimisation, perpetration, and witnessing. Three recurring role con-figurations were identified: Low Engagement, Victim-Witness, and High Engage-ment. Perpetration did not emerge as a separate perpetrator-only configuration, and movement into more involved configurations was particularly evident between Grades 5 and 7, indicating that adolescents’ involvement in PSH may overlap and change across development. Study II used six annual waves from the original cohort (N = 404; Grades 4–9) to examine developmental patterns of PSH victimisation and whether gender, perceived pubertal timing, appearance esteem, and peer social sup-port were differently associated with expected PSH frequency and excess-zero pro-pensity. Expected PSH frequency increased from Grades 4 to 7 before stabilising, while excess-zero propensity decreased during this earlier period and increased from Grades 7 to 9. At Grade 4, boys and adolescents who perceived their pubertal timing as early or late relative to peers had higher expected PSH frequency. Higher average appearance esteem was associated with lower expected PSH frequency and greater excess-zero propensity, while higher average and higher-than-usual peer social sup-port were associated with greater excess-zero propensity; higher-than-usual appear-ance esteem and peer social support were also associated with lower expected PSH frequency. Study III used cross-sectional data from a broader sample of adolescents in Grades 7–9 (N = 1,519) to examine associations between school-based PSH, online sexual harassment, anxiety, and restricted freedom of movement. School-based PSH was indirectly associated with restricted freedom of movement through anxiety among girls, whereas online sexual harassment showed the corresponding indirect association among boys; direct associations with restricted freedom of movement were observed for school-based PSH among boys and online sexual har-assment among girls. Because Study III was cross-sectional, these findings represent patterns of association rather than temporal or causal pathways. Taken together, the findings show that PSH during the transition from childhood to adolescence is not adequately understood as a single uniform form of victimisation. Instead, its empiri-cal patterning differs across roles, developmental time, contexts, and gender. The thesis therefore highlights the importance of developmental research and prevention that begin early, attend to overlapping forms of peer involvement, distinguish be-tween school-based and online sexualised victimisation, and consider gender along-side psychological, social, and behavioural correlates.