Latent Classes within the Military: Who May Need "Zero Tolerance" Interventions?

• Activity Number: 409
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 12, 2004 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Health Policy Statistics
• Author(s): Theresa J. Gromala*+
• Companies: University of Minnesota
• Keywords: latent class analysis ; sexual harassment ; sexual assault and rape ; military ; intervention ; zero tolerance

Abstract

Latent classes within the military may indicate groups of individauls who are more likely to be sexually harassed or sexually assulted or raped. To explore this possibility, we examine responses from the Department of Defense (DOD) 1995 survey of sexual harassment. We answer four questions. Are there any meaningful classes underlying the observed variables selected from the DOD Survey? If classes are present, we plan to learn which classes are most at risk for sexual harassment and assult/rape. Are there any differences among the five military branches based on the classes we identify? The branches of the military include the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy. Is there a class that represents the sexually harassed class? Finally, who is being hurt? If we learn who is most at risk for sexual harassment and assault/rape injury, we could develop interventions targeted toward the high-risk group. We determine cut-points between the classes we identify to choose the high-risk group. Through latent class analysis, we identify two classes of response patterns. We fitted a two class model. The first class represented the sexually harassed and assaulted/raped group.