Gender harassment (i.e., derogatory comments or actions that express stereotypical attitudes regarding someone’s gender) is often times the most prominent form of sex-based harassment directed towards women in both workplace and academic settings. This study explored the moderating effect of Christian attribution on gender harassment predicting college adjustment for college women using a mixed-methods approach rooted in feminist theoretical perspectives. Two hundred twenty-three female-identified students attending a Catholic university in a large, urban city completed the Gender Experiences Questionnaire (GEQ), a measure designed to capture instances of sexuality policing, indicated whether they believed reported harassment was motivated by the Christian/Catholic belief of the perpetrator, and completed the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). Additionally, participants were asked to write about their experiences of reported Christian-motivated gender harassment. Overall gender harassment negatively predicted college adjustment. Additionally, Christian attribution was found to moderate the impact of sexuality policing on college adjustment. A qualitative analysis of participants’ own descriptions of Christian-motivated gender harassment revealed that participants identified their classmates/peers as the most common perpetrator(s) of harassment and the most common cited reason for making a Christian attribution was knowing the perpetrator’s Christian/Catholic religious affiliation. Conclusions, limitations of the study, and future directions for research are discussed.
","abstract_html":"<p>Gender harassment (i.e., derogatory comments or actions that express stereotypical attitudes regarding someone’s gender) is often times the most prominent form of sex-based harassment directed towards women in both workplace and academic settings. This study explored the moderating effect of Christian attribution on gender harassment predicting college adjustment for college women using a mixed-methods approach rooted in feminist theoretical perspectives. Two hundred twenty-three female-identified students attending a Catholic university in a large, urban city completed the Gender Experiences Questionnaire (GEQ), a measure designed to capture instances of sexuality policing, indicated whether they believed reported harassment was motivated by the Christian/Catholic belief of the perpetrator, and completed the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). Additionally, participants were asked to write about their experiences of reported Christian-motivated gender harassment. Overall gender harassment negatively predicted college adjustment. Additionally, Christian attribution was found to moderate the impact of sexuality policing on college adjustment. A qualitative analysis of participants’ own descriptions of Christian-motivated gender harassment revealed that participants identified their classmates/peers as the most common perpetrator(s) of harassment and the most common cited reason for making a Christian attribution was knowing the perpetrator’s Christian/Catholic religious affiliation. Conclusions, limitations of the study, and future directions for research are discussed.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Muldoon, Abigail L"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Women & Gender Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-07-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-07-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:52Z","subjects":["gender harassment","sex-based harassment","divine discrimination","Christian-motivated harassment","college adjustment"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/190","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Muldoon, Abigail L"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-07-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Women & Gender Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["gender harassment","sex-based harassment","divine discrimination","Christian-motivated harassment","college adjustment"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/190"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Gender harassment (i.e., derogatory comments or actions that express stereotypical attitudes regarding someone’s gender) is often times the most prominent form of sex-based harassment directed towards women in both workplace and academic settings. This study explored the moderating effect of Christian attribution on gender harassment predicting college adjustment for college women using a mixed-methods approach rooted in feminist theoretical perspectives. Two hundred twenty-three female-identified students attending a Catholic university in a large, urban city completed the Gender Experiences Questionnaire (GEQ), a measure designed to capture instances of sexuality policing, indicated whether they believed reported harassment was motivated by the Christian/Catholic belief of the perpetrator, and completed the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). Additionally, participants were asked to write about their experiences of reported Christian-motivated gender harassment. Overall gender harassment negatively predicted college adjustment. Additionally, Christian attribution was found to moderate the impact of sexuality policing on college adjustment. A qualitative analysis of participants’ own descriptions of Christian-motivated gender harassment revealed that participants identified their classmates/peers as the most common perpetrator(s) of harassment and the most common cited reason for making a Christian attribution was knowing the perpetrator’s Christian/Catholic religious affiliation. Conclusions, limitations of the study, and future directions for research are discussed.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Divine discrimination: gender harassment and Christian justification"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Muldoon, Abigail L"],"dc:date.available":["2015-07-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Gender harassment (i.e., derogatory comments or actions that express stereotypical attitudes regarding someone’s gender) is often times the most prominent form of sex-based harassment directed towards women in both workplace and academic settings. This study explored the moderating effect of Christian attribution on gender harassment predicting college adjustment for college women using a mixed-methods approach rooted in feminist theoretical perspectives. Two hundred twenty-three female-identified students attending a Catholic university in a large, urban city completed the Gender Experiences Questionnaire (GEQ), a measure designed to capture instances of sexuality policing, indicated whether they believed reported harassment was motivated by the Christian/Catholic belief of the perpetrator, and completed the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). Additionally, participants were asked to write about their experiences of reported Christian-motivated gender harassment. Overall gender harassment negatively predicted college adjustment. Additionally, Christian attribution was found to moderate the impact of sexuality policing on college adjustment. A qualitative analysis of participants’ own descriptions of Christian-motivated gender harassment revealed that participants identified their classmates/peers as the most common perpetrator(s) of harassment and the most common cited reason for making a Christian attribution was knowing the perpetrator’s Christian/Catholic religious affiliation. Conclusions, limitations of the study, and future directions for research are discussed.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/190"],"dc:subject":["gender harassment","sex-based harassment","divine discrimination","Christian-motivated harassment","college adjustment"],"dc:title":["Divine discrimination: gender harassment and Christian justification"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Women & Gender Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:52Z"}