Recent Bush Center Research Projects

• sexual harrassment
• UFOs
• gambling
• marriage

Sexual harrassment

Men and women have surprisingly similar views on many aspects of sexual harrassment, yet differ widely on other aspects.

A survey of 1,057 adults conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University found that 42 percent of men and 47 percent of women say they have seen sexual harrassment.

• Furthermore, while slightly more women than men (33 percent to 25 percent) said they have seen sexual harrassment at work, nearly equal numbers of men and women said they had seen sexual harrassment in school and in social groups.
  
• Nearly equal numbers--59 percent of the men and 58 percent of the women--agreed that men often pressure women for sex. Furthermore, men were even more likely than women to agree that most men are not very sensitive about women.
  
• While sexual harrassment has been defined largely in terms of males taking advantage of females, 10 percent of the men in the survey said they themselves had been sexually harrassed. Thirty-two percent of the women said they had been sexually harrassed.
  
• There was, however, considerable disagreement between men and women on other aspects of sexual harrassment. Men were much more likely than women to say that many women who complain about sexual harrassment are over-sensitive and that most women put unfair demands upon men.
  
• Surprisingly, whether the individual had seen sexual harrassment or not was not related to the perception that men often pressure women for sex or that most men are not sensitive about women. However, those who had seen sexual harrassment were much less likely to say women who claim sexual harrassment are over-sensitive.
  
• Persons with incomes of less than $25,000 were much less likely than others to say they had seen sexual harrassment. Only 35 percent in that income bracket so reported, compared to 51 percent of those with incomes of more than $25,000.
  
• Persons with lower incomes were less likely to say they had seen sexual harrassment at work, but were more likely to say they had seen it in social groups.
  
• Age seems not to be much of a factor. Those between 35 and 44 years old were most likely to say they had seen sexual harrassment, but 47 percent of those between 55 and 64 said they had seen it. Only for those over 65 was the figure markedly lower--23 percent.

The survey was conducted July 11-20, 1993 among 1,057 randomly selected Americans over the age of 18. Interviews were conducted at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. The study was jointly sponsored by the school and the Scripps Howard News Service. The survey has a margin of error of 5 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. That means, 95 times out of 100, the figures are within 4 percent of the results if every citixen in the United States were interviewed.

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UFOs

The question:

Other Americans feel that flying saucers are real and that the federal government is hiding the truth about them from us. Do you think this is very likely, seomwhat likely or unlikely?

This is from a telephone survey made the last two weeks in June from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Sample was 1,006 randonly selected from a computerized national telephone directory. Interviews were completed in every area code. The survey was directed by Thomas Hargrove of the Scripps Howard News Service and Guido H. Stempel III of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Sampling error is 3.2 percent.

The main thrust of the survey was to measure attitudes toward the federal government, and those who had negative attitudes were slightly mroe likely to believe flying saucers are real than those who had positive attitudes.

• Those who watched network television news regularly and those who read a daily newspaper regularly are less likely to believe flying saucers are real.
  
• Those who read a gorcery store tabloid regularly are much more likely to believe flying saucers are real. The margin is 34.9 percent of tabloid readers to 16.8 percent of non-readers saying it is "very likely" flying saucers are real. Combining "very likely" and "somewhat likely," the margin is 59.5 percent to 48.3 percent.
  
• People who live in big cities are more likely to believe flying saucers are real than people who live in small cities, suburbs or rural areas.
  
• Republicans are less likely than Democrats to believe flying saucers are real.
  
• People with college degrees are less likely than other people to believe flying saucers are real. However, many college graduates (45.7 percent) do believe it is "very likely" or 'somewhat likely" that they are real.
  
• People over 55 are much less likely (35.5 percent) than people under 55 to believe flying saucers are real. However, there is practically no difference between thoes 35 to 55 and those under 35.
  
• People whose incomes are under $25,000 are more likely to believe flyinf saucers are real than people with incomes of more than $25,000.
• Women are more likely than men to think flying saucers are real; 52 percent of women believe, compared to 46 percent of men.
  
• People who attended church in the past week were less likely to believe flying saicers are real. Of those who attended church, 45 percent believe saucers are real. Of those who didn't attend church, 54 percent believe saucers are real.

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Gambling

Do men and women hold differing views on gambling?

You bet.

These results are from a national survey by the Scripps Howard News Service and the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Telephone interviews were conducted between June 11-20, 1996 with 1,024 randomly selected adults.

• Women disapproved of state-licensed gambling as an acceptable way to raise government revenue, whereas men were more likely to approve of it. Overall, 51 percent of respondants approved of it.
  
• Men and women were about equally in favor of state lottery programs and bingo for charity, but had disparate views on other forms of gambling. More than half (53 percent) of men favored horse and dog track betting, compared to 38 percent of women. Also, forty-six percent of men favored casino gambling, compared to 40 percent of women.
  
• Women were slightly more likely than men to say that the nation has legalized too many kinds of gambling. Women also were less likely than men to bet in lottery games, in casinos, at the track or on sports.
  
• However, men and women were about equally likely to have bet once or twice on the lottery, at the casino, at the track or on sports. Men were far more likely to have gambled on three or more occasions--especially on sports.
  
• About one-third of respondants said they know personally someone whose betting has caused him/her financial problems. Men (39 percent) were more likely than women (30 percent) to know people in such a situation.
  
• For all forms of gambling in the survey, the older people are, the less likely they are to approve of it. Under 35 years of age, 58 percent approve of gambling as a revenue source, but of those over 55, only 39 percent approve. Also, the older you are, the more likely you are to know of someone who has had financial problems because of gambling.

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Marriage

By slim margins, women and men alike said they thought the sexes get along worse than they did in the past. Only 38 percent of men and 39 percent of women thought the genders co-exist better these days.

These results are from a national telephone survey of randomly selected respondents. Interviews were completed with 1,057 adults between July 11-20, 1993. The survey was conducted by the Scripps Howard News Service and the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Survey directors were Tom Hargrove of Scripps Howard News Service and Guido H. Stempel III of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

• About four-fifths of respondants said it seems that people are more likely to stay single than in the past. But that doesn't necessarily mean people are depressed about living alone; only 39 percent of men and 21 percent of women said they thought people who live alone are "basically lonely and unhappy."
  
• Of the married respondants (56 percent of men and 55 percent of women), 97 percent of men and nearly 99 percent of women said they were happy with married life. Married respondants overwhelmingly said they would marry the same person, if they had to do it again.
  
• But does hope spring eternal for singles? Perhaps; unmarried men were more likely to want to get married than unmarried women.

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