Street harassment and its negative psychological outcomes in an Italian university population

The goal of this research was to document the frequency of street harassment and examine the associations among street harassment experiences, negative psychological outcomes, and changes in behavioural habits. A sample of students and workers at an Italian university was surveyed (N = 2, 764). Findings indicated that exposure to street harassment had negative psychological effects regardless of whether people labelled their experiences as harassment or not. Furthermore, analyses demonstrated that negative outcomes deriving from street harassment mediated the relationship between harassing behaviours experienced by respondents and the probability that they changed their daily routine. Crucially, all the tested models remained significant by controlling for participants' gender, age, and role. Research and practical implications were discussed.