Effects of Street Harassment on Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep Quality of College Women

The goal of the present study was to treat street harassment as a public health issue akin to sexual harassment in terms of its negative effects. Anxiety and depression were hypothesized to be mediators of the effect of street harassment on sleep quality. Fully 252 female undergraduate students at a large U.S. Northeastern university were surveyed. Findings indicated that street harassment was positively related to anxiety and depression as well as negatively related to sleep quality. Mediation analyses indicated that both anxiety and depression mediated the relationship between street harassment and sleep quality. Implications for health interventions are discussed, such as the need to address street harassment experiences in college women when creating interventions aimed at reducing anxiety and depression and at improving sleep quality.