The relationship between sexual harassment proclivity, honesty-humility, and cognitive and emotional empathy

Cilj je ovog istraživanja bio ispitati rodne/spolne razlike u sklonosti seksualnom uznemiravanju, kao i utvrditi njenu povezanost s iskrenosti-poniznosti te kognitivnom i emocionalnom empatijom. Istraživanje je provedeno online tijekom veljače i ožujka 2022. godine na 225 sudionika oba spola između 19 i 68 godina starosti. Iskrenost-poniznost mjerena je pomoću 16 čestica preuzetih iz hrvatskoga prijevoda HEXACO-100 upitnika, kognitivna i emocionalna empatija skalom „PROLI_Empatija“, a sklonost seksualnom uznemiravanju vlastitim prijevodom Skale sklonosti seksualnom uznemiravanju. Dobivene su rodne/spolne razlike u sklonosti seksualnom uznemiravanju, na način da su muškarci pokazali veću sklonost seksualnom uznemiravanju. Utvrđeno je kako iskrenost-poniznost objašnjava 20% varijance sklonosti seksualnom uznemiravanju uz kontrolu spola i stečene razine obrazovanja. Sudionici s višim rezultatom na skali iskrenosti-poniznosti pokazuju nižu sklonost seksualnom uznemiravanju. Kognitivna i emocionalna empatija objasnile su dodatnih 9.3% varijance, pri čemu se kognitivna empatija pokazala značajnim samostalnim prediktorom sklonosti seksualnom uznemiravanju – sudionici s višim rezultatom na skali kognitivne empatije također pokazuju nižu sklonost seksualnom uznemiravanju. Unatoč visokoj negativnoj korelaciji sa sklonošću seksualnom uznemiravanju, emocionalna empatija nije se pokazala njenim samostalnim prediktorom, vjerojatno primarno zbog visoke korelacije s kognitivnom empatijom. Cjelokupnim modelom objašnjeno je 49.4% varijance sklonosti seksualnom uznemiravanju. Konačno, u radu su polemizirani doprinosi i praktične implikacije provedenog istraživanja, kao i najvažnija ograničenja te preporuke za buduća istraživanja.The aim of this study was to examine gender/sex differences in proclivity to sexually harass, and to examine its relationship with honesty-humility, as well as cognitive and emotional empathy. The study was conducted online in February and March 2022 on a sample of 225 participants of both genders aged 19 to 68. Honesty-humility was measured using 16 items from the HEXACO-100 inventory; cognitive and emotional empathy was measured using the "PROLI_empatija" scale, while sexual harassment proclivity was measured using the Sexual Harassment Proclivities Scale. Gender/sex differences in sexual harassment proclivity were observed, such that men showed higher proclivity to sexually harass. The results show that honesty-humility explains 20% of the variance of sexual harassment proclivity after controlling for gender and educational level. Participants with a higher score on the honesty-humility scale demonstrate a lower sexual harassment proclivity. Cognitive and emotional empathy accounted for an additional 9.3% of the variance, with cognitive empathy being the significant independent predictor of sexual harassment proclivity - participants with a higher score on the cognitive empathy scale demonstrate a lower proclivity towards sexual harassment as well. Despite its highly negative correlation with sexual harassment proclivity, emotional empathy was not shown to be an independent predictor, most likely due to its high correlation with cognitive empathy. The model as a whole explains 49.4% of the variance of sexual harassment proclivity. Lastly, it is discussed what are the contributions and practical implications of the study, as well as its limitations and recommendations for future research