• Linda Charmaraman, Ashleigh E Jones, Nan Stein, and Dorothy L Espelage.
• Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481-8203, USA. lcharmaraman@wellesley.edu
• J Sch Health. 2013 Jun 1;83(6):438-44.

BackgroundThis study fills a gap in the literature by examining how school staff members view bullying and sexual harassment and their role in preventing both. Given recent legislation, increasingly more attention is paid to bully prevention; however, student-on-student sexual harassment is less addressed.MethodsFour focus groups were conducted with 32 staff members from 4 midwestern public middle schools. Questions assessed professional development opportunities on bullying and sexual harassment prevention/intervention, personal definitions of these behaviors, and their perceptions of school norms regarding such behavior.ResultsStaff members recalled receiving more professional development on bullying than sexual harassment. They tended to define sexual harassment as something that occurs between adults and/or adults and students and did perceive their role in enforcing a "sexual harassment-free" peer-to-peer school zone.ConclusionWhen school administrators fail to provide professional development on both bullying and sexual harassment, staff members do not understand that sexual harassment occurs between students. Thus, they are unaware of policies to protect students from harmful experiences in educational settings and are not likely to understand their own role in preventing them.© 2013, American School Health Association.

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