Workplace Sexual Harassment and the Risk of Chronic Disease in a Prospective Cohort Study

In a sample of university employees, longitudinal data were examined to test a biopsychosocial model of whether exposure to workplace sexual harassment increases hazard for chronic disease, in the context of other known biological, psychological, and social risk factors for chronic disease. Proportional hazards multiple regression was used to predict incidence of first chronic disease across 23 years of follow-up based on experience of sexual harassment. Out of a sample of N = 525, 288 incident diagnoses were observed. Effects of harassment, drinking behavior, cigarette use, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and other work stressors were considered as either fixed at baseline or as time-dependent covariates in separate models, controlling for age and baseline occupational group, which were significantly associated with disease onset. Higher scores on reported workplace sexual harassment at baseline of the study were predictive of chronic disease incidence over the next 23 years (HR = 1.038 for each increase of one unit, p = 0.0133), adjusting for age and occupation. The effect was only partially attenuated when adjusting for depressive symptoms at baseline and alcohol intake throughout follow-up (HR = 1.031, p = 0.0475), the only other covariates tested that were consistently associated with chronic disease onset and included in final models. Considering the binary comparison of any versus no harassment at baseline revealed a stronger effect on chronic disease onset (HR = 1.437, p = 0.004), which again was attenuated after considering effects of baseline depressive symptoms and previous year alcohol use (HR = 1.357, p = 0.017). Experience of sexual harassment in the workplace was the only work stressor found to be significantly associated with an elevated risk of chronic disease onset across the study period.