Sexual Harassment in Behavior Analysis: Findings From a Preliminary Sample of Practitioners and Recommendations for the Field

ABSTRACT

Sexual harassment can result in victims feeling uncomfortable or intimidated and lead to negative emotional and physical consequences. We conducted a survey of 345 participants who work in applied‐behavior‐analytic contexts as an initial examination of how often sexual harassment occurs and its characteristics. Most participants (82.02%) reported experiencing at least one form of sexual harassment (i.e., gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, sexual coercion). The most commonly reported forms of harassment were gender harassment (e.g., hearing sexist comments or offensive gender remarks) and unwanted sexual attention (e.g., experiencing unwanted flirtatious or sexual attention, being asked to discuss sexual experiences). Victims tended to be in junior or training roles (e.g., registered behavior technician, board certified assistant behavior analyst) and most often experienced harassment by male coworkers and clients' family members in clinics or clients' homes. These incidents can have significant impact on the emotional and physical well‐being of behavior‐analytic professionals, corroborated by participant statements in our thematic analysis. We conclude with recommendations for how to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in applied‐behavior‐analytic contexts.