Adaptation of Online Sexual Harassment Scale into Turkish: A Validity And Reliability Study

The aim of this study is to adapt the Online Sexual Harassment Scale (OSHS) into Turkish and examine the validity and reliability of the Turkish form. The study  also aims to examine whether university students’ exposure to online sexual harassment differs in terms of gender. Data obtained from 340 university students (221 women, 119 men). In order to determine the construct validity of the scale, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted. CFA results confirmed the two-factor structure (gender harassment and unwanted sexual attention) of the Turkish form like original scale. Fit indices obtained from CFA (χ2/df= 3.77; GFI= .91; SRMR= .045; CFI= .95; NFI= .93; IFI= .95; TLI= .94), pointed out that two-factor structure of Turkish form has an acceptable fit. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for unwanted sexual attention and gender harassment dimensions, and the whole scale were found to be .93, .83, and .94, respectively. When all these findings are evaluated as a whole, the Turkish form of the OSHS is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used to evaluate the level of exposure to online sexual harassment. Additionally, it is found that women OSHS scores were significantly higher than men in both sub-dimensions and the whole scale, in other words women were subjected to online sexual harassment (gender harassment and unwanted sexual attention) significantly more than men.