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23/12/2005.
Sexual harassment on planes is leading to poor health among female flight attendants, new research shows. Nearly three-quarters of 2000 former and current Italian female flight attendants surveyed had been propositioned, groped, subjected to offensive remarks about their appearance, shown sexually explicit material or subjected to unwanted sexual acts in the course of their work. The results of the survey were published in the current issue of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal.
About half the flight attendants had been harassed by a colleague or superior. However, those who had been sexually harassed by passengers were almost three times as likely to rate their health as poor or fair. Many have been seriously depressed; some have considered suicide.
This might be "due to the constant nature of this type of harassment, and its effect may be compounded by other types of disagreeable passenger relationships that affect the well-being of flight attendants," writes the authorTerri Ballard, PhD, with Instituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome.
Her study involved 1,955 female flight attendants - all with the Italian national airline Italia - who currently work or had previously worked for the airline between January 1965 and December 1995.
Each completed a survey asking about a variety of issues: job satisfaction and sexual harassment in the workplace - either by a superior or colleague, or a passenger. They were also asked about their family status (children/significant other) and how they perceived their own health.
Among findings regarding current flight attendants:
· 47% perceived their health as fair or poor.
· 17% felt psychological distress.
· 10% had no form of social support.
· 39% had a history of serious depression.
· 14% had suicidal thoughts.
· 3% had attempted suicide.
They also reported three times more psychological distress - with low job satisfaction playing a strong role. Having frequent tension over child care was another strong factor in their current distress. That is likely due to conflicts between family and work demands, which could be a source of stress and depression.
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