Disparities in Street Harassment Exposure and Mental Health Consequences: Elevated Risk for Marginalized Women

Street harassment is a widespread harm that disproportionately affects women. While research suggests links between racial inequality, street harassment, and mental health outcomes, it is less understood how the severity of harassment experienced is shaped by their demographic characteristics, and how the severity of the harassment shapes mental health outcomes. Thus, we ask two questions. First, which demographic characteristics are associated with a greater risk of "complementary" and "hostile" forms of street harassment? Second, are complementary and hostile forms of street harassment both associated with higher levels of negative emotion, psychological distress, and post-traumatic maladaptive beliefs? To answer these questions, we use a cross-sectional survey design. Our sample consists of 1,053 cisgender women-approximately equally White and women of color, including American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, Asian American or Pacific Islander, and Multiracial women. Respondents are predominantly non-Hispanic and Heterosexual, with an average age of 24.3 years. We asked respondents about exposure to street harassment, negative emotion, symptoms of psychological distress, and post-traumatic maladaptive beliefs. In a series of negative binomial regression models, we find that exposure to both complementary and hostile street harassment is significantly higher among Black women, Hispanic women, and Bisexual and Lesbian women compared to their reference groups. We also find that both complementary and hostile forms of street harassment exposure are significantly associated with negative emotions and psychological distress, but that only hostile street harassment is associated with post-traumatic maladaptive beliefs. Understanding that street harassment exposure is related to an array of deleterious mental health consequences, these findings underscore that differential street harassment exposure appears to be a small but overlooked source of marginalized women's disparate mental health outcomes.