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Spanish Adaptation of the Illinois Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2014

Francisca Expósito ,
Antonio Herrera ,
Inmaculada Valor-Segura ,
M. Carmen Herrera  and
Luis M. Lozano
Francisca Expósito*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
Antonio Herrera
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
Inmaculada Valor-Segura
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
M. Carmen Herrera
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
Luis M. Lozano
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Francisca Expósito Jiménez. Departamento de Psicología Social. Facultad de Psicología. Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), Universidad de Granada, Campus de Cartuja, s/n. 18071. Granada (Spain). Phone: 34–958246277. Fax: 34–958243746. E-mail: fexposit@ugr.es
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Abstract

Sexual harassment is among the most serious forms of gender violence, and what all violent acts have in common are the many myths associated with them. Three studies were conducted to adapt a Spanish version of the Illinois Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance (ISHMA) scale, which assesses myths about sexual harassment. The first study aimed to, for the first time, present psychometric data on the Spanish version of the ISHMA. The participants were 339 college students. After adapting the items and measuring their content validity, we examined the test’s dimensional structure, statistically analyzed the items, and determined the instrument’s reliability (α = .91 for the total scale and between .77 and .84 for the different dimensions). Study 2 involved 326 adult participants from the general population and its objective was to evaluate the scale’s dimensional structure through confirmatory factor analysis (χ2 143 = 244.860, p < .001; GFI = .952; CFI = .958; RMSEA = .034 [.026 – .041]). The third study was conducted in order to measure convergent validity in both students and adults from the general population. Differences by gender were found in all dimensions being the females’ means higher than males (Cohen´s d between .38 and .62). Our findings suggest the Spanish version of the ISHMA is a useful instrument to study myths about sexual harassment.

Keywords

sexual harassmentmythsgender violencescaleadaptation
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E40
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

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