Common Acts of Sexual Harassment and Aggression in Drinking Environments Scale (C-SHADE)

Abstract

The Common Acts of Sexual Harassment and Aggression in Drinking Environments Scale (C-SHADE) is an empirically derived, standardized psychometric instrument developed by Graham et al. (2023) designed to systematically assess and quantify the perpetration of sexual aggression and harassment by men against women within alcohol-serving establishments such as bars, pubs, and nightclubs. Grounded in observational fieldwork of barroom interactions (Graham et al., 2010; Graham, Bernards, Osgood, et al., 2014) and qualitative narratives from female targets (Graham et al., 2017), the C-SHADE captures the ecological nuances of peer-group sexual misconduct occurring among unacquainted patrons. The behavioral domain encompasses noncontact verbal and nonverbal sexual harassment (e.g., intrusive sexual comments, leering, stalking within the venue), unwanted physical contact (e.g., groping, nonconsensual pelvic grinding), and persistent pursuit following explicit rejection.

Psychometric evaluation among Canadian young adult males aged 19 to 25 years who regularly frequent nightlife venues demonstrated an exceptionally robust unidimensional construct. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed a primary single-factor structure accounting for 75% of the total variance across the core behavioral markers, reflecting a unified underlying continuum of sexually intrusive nightlife perpetration. The scale demonstrates outstanding internal consistency reliability, evidenced by a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .96. Evidence for convergent validity was substantiated through statistically significant positive correlations with peer sexual aggression norms, hypermasculine and sexually aggressive attitudes, positive alcohol-sex outcome expectancies, and heavier episodic alcohol consumption patterns. Discriminant validity was established by distinguishing contextual, opportunistic barroom aggressors from generalized perpetrators identified via traditional instruments such as the Modified Sexual Experiences Survey (M-SES). The C-SHADE serves as a sensitive diagnostic and evaluative tool for public health researchers, prevention scientists, and community intervention programs aiming to quantify intervention efficacy, evaluate bystander training programs, and delineate the situational etiology of gender-based violence in drinking contexts.

Keywords

Drinking Environments, Male Female Interaction, Physical Contact, Sexual Aggression Perpetration, Sexual Harassment, Aggressive Behavior, Antisocial Behavior, Social Drinking, Sex Offenses, Nightlife Violence, Psychometrics, Measurement Validity, Alcohol Myopia.

Authors

The Common Acts of Sexual Harassment and Aggression in Drinking Environments Scale (C-SHADE) was developed and validated through a collaborative initiative among leading researchers in public health, addiction, and gender-based violence:

• Kathryn Graham, Ph.D. (ORCID: 0000-0003-3318-3598) — Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Western University. Correspondence: [email protected].
• Sharon Bernards, M.A. — Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), London, Ontario, Canada.
• Antonia Abbey, Ph.D. (ORCID: 0002-5448-4659) — Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States.
• Charlene Senn, Ph.D. — Department of Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
• Tara M. Dumas, Ph.D. — Department of Psychology, Huron University College at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
• AnnaLise Trudell, Ph.D. — Anova (formerly Sexual Assault Centre London and Women's Community House), London, Ontario, Canada.
• Peter D. Donnelly, M.D., Ph.D. — Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Samantha Wells, Ph.D. — Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Common Acts of Sexual Harassment and Aggression in Drinking Environments Scale (C-SHADE) is to provide an ecologically grounded, psychometrically rigorous instrument capable of measuring the frequency, typology, and severity of sexual harassment and sexual aggression perpetration by men against women within drinking establishments such as bars, pubs, taverns, and nightclubs. Prior to the development of the C-SHADE, the measurement of sexual aggression in psychological and epidemiological research relied predominantly on generalized self-report scales, most notably the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) and its subsequent revisions (Koss et al., 2007). While these seminal instruments established the benchmark for assessing legally defined criminal acts (such as sexual assault, incapacitated rape, and felony sexual coercion), they frequently suffered from systematic floor effects when deployed in community or general nightlife settings, failing to capture the full spectrum of common, low-to-moderate level sexually intrusive behaviors that saturate commercial drinking venues.

Nightlife spaces operate under unique social, physical, and pharmacological dynamics. In these venues, casual interactions occur among unfamiliar patrons under expectations of sexual exploration, intoxication, loud acoustic stimulation, and physical proximity. In such settings, sexually aggressive acts frequently manifest as opportunistic intrusions, such as unwanted touch, nonconsensual grinding on dance floors, blocking paths, intrusive questioning, or aggressive persistence after initial rejection. These acts, although harmful and widespread, were rarely captured by traditional scales that focused predominantly on dating relationships, romantic partners, or explicit threats of physical harm. Consequently, researchers studying alcohol-involved sexual violence were faced with an acute measurement gap: they lacked a sensitive, standardized tool capable of capturing context-specific sexual misconduct between relative strangers.

The C-SHADE addresses this operational limitation by providing researchers and clinicians with a tool that fulfills several clinical, scientific, and public health functions:

• Evaluation of Public Health Interventions: It enables prevention scientists to reliably assess the behavioral impacts of venue-based violence prevention initiatives, server and security staff training (e.g., responsible beverage service, active intervention protocols), and bystander intervention programs (such as Good Night Out or Safe Bars) by detecting subtle shifts in male perpetration rates over time.
• Delineation of Situational vs. Dispositional Risk Factors: By capturing behaviors specific to commercial nightlife, the C-SHADE facilitates structural equation modeling to disentangle individual-level propensity factors (such as hostile sexism, antisocial personality traits, and heavy drinking patterns) from environmental triggers (venue crowding, drink specials, and peer group norms).
• Identification of Subclinical Perpetration: The scale identifies men who may not endorse severe acts of felony sexual assault on traditional criminal measures, but who routinely engage in severe boundary violations, nonconsensual touch, and harassment within hospitality environments, thereby illuminating the developmental pathway from minor harassment to predatory aggression.
• Policy and Regulatory Benchmark: Municipal licensing authorities, public health agencies, and hospitality associations can deploy the C-SHADE as an empirical benchmark to assess baseline rates of harassment within nightlife districts, guiding urban planning, venue compliance, and police training.

Psychological Construct

The C-SHADE is operationalized as a multidimensional behavioral construct that converges into a robust overarching dimension of contextual sexual aggression and harassment perpetration. This construct reflects intentional, nonconsensual, sexually motivated boundary violations directed toward women who are unfamiliar or casual acquaintances in commercial drinking establishments. The conceptual scope of the construct reflects three distinct behavioral domains that operate synergistically within nightlife ecologies:

1. Noncontact Sexual Harassment and Spatial Intimidation

This sub-dimension captures verbal, acoustic, spatial, and visual behaviors intended to sexually objectify, demean, or intimidate women without direct bodily contact. Because bars and clubs are socially designated as arenas for flirtation and courtship, perpetrators often camouflage hostile intrusions under the guise of casual socializing or humor. Specific manifestations include:

• Visual and Gestural Harassment: Invasive leering, sustained staring intended to make a target visibly uncomfortable, and explicit sexually suggestive gestures.
• Verbal Intrusion and Objectification: Catcalling, whistling, animal or kissing sounds, unsolicited crude sexual remarks about women's physical bodies, and persistent intrusive questioning regarding sexual practices, history, or relationship exclusivity.
• Spatial Dominance and Locational Stalking: Deliberately violating interpersonal proxemics by crowding a woman's personal space, shadowing or following her across different sectors of the venue (e.g., from the bar to the restroom corridor or patio), and physically blocking her egress or exit paths to force interaction.

2. Unwanted Physical Contact and Groping

This domain involves intentional, nonconsensual bodily violations of a woman's physical autonomy. In high-density drinking environments, crowded dance floors and cramped bar lines are frequently weaponized by perpetrators to provide plausible deniability, framing intentional assaults as accidental bumps. The construct captures varying gradations of bodily intrusion:

• Opportunistic and Cloaked Touching: Brushing against a woman's torso, hips, or legs under the pretense of navigating through a crowded venue.
• Nonconsensual Restraint and Territorial Encroachment: Grabbing or holding a woman's hand, wrist, or arm to prevent her from walking away, as well as draping an arm over her shoulder or encircling her waist against her clear nonverbal or verbal reluctance.
• Direct Groping and Sexual Touching: Explicitly grabbing, squeezing, or rubbing a woman's breasts, buttocks, thighs, or groin without consent, as well as attempted or forced nonconsensual kissing.
• Dance Floor Exploitation (Nonconsensual Grinding): Positioning oneself behind an unsuspecting or unwilling woman to forcefully rub one's pelvis or groin against her body without prior negotiation or consent.

3. Persistence After Rejection and Coercive Pursuit

A hallmark of barroom sexual aggression is the refusal to accept a target's boundary setting. In masculine drinking cultures, feminine resistance is frequently trivialized, reframed as token resistance, or viewed as a challenge to be overcome through persistence. This dimension captures behavioral refusal to de-escalate following unambiguous disinterest:

• Relentless Courtship and Boundary Overriding: Continuing to proposition, hover over, or flirt with a woman after she has explicitly asked to be left alone or verbally rejected overtures.
• Insistent Dance Floor Encroachment: Persisting in entering a woman's dance space or attempting to physically pull her back to the dance floor after she has turned away or attempted to exit.
• Substance Manipulation and Pressure: Continuously purchasing drinks for a woman after she has declined further alcohol, attempting to leverage social reciprocity or intoxication to induce compliance.
• Persistent Departure Badgering: Repeatedly badgering, pleading with, or aggressively pressuring a woman to leave the venue or accompany the perpetrator home after an initial explicit refusal.

Theoretical Framework

The conceptual framework underpinning the C-SHADE integrates socio-ecological, cognitive-psychological, and pharmacological models of human behavior to explain how sexual aggression emerges within licensed venues. Four primary theories inform the architecture and construct validity of the instrument:

1. The Situational-Ecological Model of Barroom Aggression

Pioneered by Graham et al. (2010, 2014), this perspective emphasizes that sexual violence is not solely an internal personality trait, but an emergent property of the immediate physical and socio-cultural environment. Commercial drinking venues function as complex social arenas characterized by darkness, high noise levels, crowded density, loosened normative constraints, and heightened expectations of hedonistic exploration. In these spaces, social scripts regarding sexual harassment become ambiguous. The C-SHADE's item generation was directly informed by years of unobtrusive naturalistic observations in real barrooms, capturing behavioral episodes as they naturally occur in situ rather than relying solely on post-hoc clinical abstractions.

2. Alcohol Myopia Theory

Formulated by Steele and Josephs (1990) and extended to sexual violence by Abbey et al. (2014), Alcohol Myopia Theory posits that intoxication constricts the individual's perceptual and cognitive processing capacity to immediate, highly salient environmental cues, while impairing the ability to process peripheral, inhibiting cues. In a bar, a perpetrator experiences intense focus on primary appetitive stimuli (sexual attraction, peer validation, physical desire), whereas distal inhibitory cues (the target's subtle nonverbal discomfort, internal moral reservations, potential legal repercussions) are cognitively discounted. The C-SHADE explicitly measures behaviors that demonstrate this myopic tunnel vision, wherein perpetrators ignore clear verbal and nonverbal signals of distress and persist in intrusive pursuit.

3. Confluence Model of Sexual Aggression

Developed by Malamuth et al. (1991), the Confluence Model identifies two primary convergent pathways that produce sexually aggressive behavior: Hostile Masculinity (an insecure, defensive, and distrustful orientation toward women) and Impersonal Sex (a promiscuous orientation detached from emotional intimacy). Within the C-SHADE framework, this confluence operates within male peer groups in nightlife districts. The drinking culture acts as a catalyst where peer approval, masculine bravado, and male entitlement intersect, rewarding men who engage in intrusive predatory conquests while treating women as collective targets of objectification.

4. Sexual Scripting Theory and Ambiguous Consent

Gagnon and Simon's Sexual Scripting Theory suggests that sexual encounters follow culturally scripted guidelines. In nightlife settings, traditional scripts often frame men as the active, persistent initiators and women as gatekeepers whose resistance may be feigned or insincere. This script fosters cognitive distortions, enabling men to misinterpret women's polite de-escalation tactics (e.g., nervous smiling, stepping back) as flirtatious banter. The C-SHADE anchors its items around interactions between unfamiliar individuals, removing ambiguities of prior established intimacy and directly isolating acts where consent is definitively absent or explicitly violated.

Validity

The psychometric validity of the C-SHADE was established through rigorous empirical testing across diverse validation samples (Graham et al., 2023). Its validity portfolio spans content, convergent, discriminant, and construct validity evidence.

Content and Face Validity

The content validation of the C-SHADE utilized a mixed-methodology development pipeline. The item pool was not generated through speculative armchair derivation, but extracted directly from three empirical sources:

1. Systematic field observations of nightlife venues spanning hundreds of recorded real-life incidents conducted by trained, unobtrusive research observers (Graham et al., 2010; Graham et al., 2014).
2. In-depth qualitative focus groups and interview accounts from female patrons describing recurring patterns of sexual harassment and unwanted touch experienced in bars (Graham et al., 2017).
3. Comprehensive synthesis of contemporary empirical literature on hospitality aggression and sexual harassment (Becker & Tinkler, 2015; Thompson & Cracco, 2008).

Panel reviews by clinical psychologists and violence prevention experts verified that the resulting items comprehensively sampled the behavioral domain without introducing idiosyncratic or ambiguous phrasing.

Convergent Validity

Convergent validity was evaluated by correlating C-SHADE perpetration scores with validated measures of theoretically aligned psychological, attitudinal, and behavioral constructs:

• Peer Sexual Aggression Norms: Significant positive correlations were observed with perceived male peer sexual aggression perpetration, substantiating the role of homosocial peer reinforcement in predicting barroom boundary violations.
• Sexually Aggressive and Sexist Attitudes: Scores demonstrated strong, statistically significant correlations with hypermasculinity, rape myth acceptance, and hostile sexism indices, indicating that general misogynistic cognitive schemas reliably manifest as behavioral transgressions in nightlife spaces.
• Alcohol-Sex Expectancies: The scale correlated significantly with positive alcohol expectancies regarding sexual enhancement and social disinhibition, confirming that men who believe alcohol facilitates sexual conquest are more prone to barroom perpetration.
• Alcohol Consumption Patterns: Greater frequency of heavy episodic drinking (≥5 drinks per occasion) correlated positively with elevated C-SHADE scores. Interestingly, consistent with the nuanced findings of Graham et al. (2023), general bar-going frequency alone was not a sufficient predictor of perpetration, countering simplistic exposure assumptions (Testa & Cleveland, 2017) and proving that individual cognitive-attitudinal proclivities interact dynamically with the venue environment.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity was established by cross-classifying participants using the C-SHADE alongside the General Sexual Aggression — Modified Sexual Experiences Survey (M-SES) (Koss et al., 2007). The empirical analyses demonstrated that the C-SHADE identified a substantial subpopulation of men who actively engaged in pervasive sexual harassment, groping, and boundary violations in bars, but who scored negative on the M-SES. These findings confirm that the C-SHADE successfully captures opportunistic, venue-specific acts of aggression that go undetected by traditional instruments focused on severe dating violence or felony rape, demonstrating that the instrument possesses unique discriminant diagnostic utility.

Reliability

The C-SHADE demonstrates exceptional psychometric reliability across internal consistency and measurement precision metrics:

Internal Consistency Reliability

In the primary psychometric validation study conducted by Graham et al. (2023) with young adult men (N = 627, aged 19–25), the scale demonstrated outstanding internal consistency. The calculated Cronbach's alpha coefficient was:

• Cronbach's α = .96

This high alpha value indicates superior item inter-relatedness and minimal measurement error, confirming that the behavioral indicators reliably reflect the same core latent construct. Corrected item-total correlations across the validated items were uniformly high, consistently exceeding .70, with no single item removal improving overall scale reliability.

Measurement Precision and Scale Robustness

Subscale reliability analyses examining the behavioral clusters (verbal/noncontact harassment, unwanted physical contact, persistence) revealed high intra-cluster reliability (α > .88 across individual sub-domains). Furthermore, split-half reliability and composite reliability coefficients exceeded .94, confirming that the scale maintains high precision across varying levels of perpetration severity.

Factor Analysis

The structural dimensionality of the C-SHADE was examined using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to determine the latent structure governing sexually aggressive acts in drinking venues.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

Principal axis factoring and maximum likelihood extraction with oblique rotations (Promax) were conducted on the behavioral item pool. Both the scree plot test and parallel analysis strongly favored a parsimonious single-factor solution:

• Variance Explained: The dominant single factor accounted for 75% of the total scale variance, demonstrating an overwhelmingly unidimensional latent architecture.
• Factor Loadings: Standardized factor loadings across the items were uniform, robust, and cleanly defined, ranging from .72 to .91. Cross-loadings were negligible when multi-factor solutions were examined, and secondary factors yielded eigenvalues well below empirical retention thresholds.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

To verify structural stability, CFA was performed utilizing robust maximum likelihood estimation (MLR) to account for the ordinal and positively skewed distribution typical of low-frequency aggression perpetration data. The unidimensional model demonstrated excellent fit to the empirical data:

• Model Fit Indices: Comparative Fit Index (CFI) > .97; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) > .96; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) ≤ .052 (90% CI [.041, .063]); Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) ≤ .038.

These psychometric indices verify that while the behavioral acts encompass varying levels of physical intrusion (ranging from intrusive staring to dance floor grinding and physical restraint), they function as progressive behavioral indicators along a singular, continuous underlying continuum of male sexual entitlement and aggression within nightlife contexts.

Instrument / Measurement Tool

• Test Type: Original Rating Scale / Self-Report Questionnaire.
• Format: Computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) or web-based electronic survey administration. Participants are presented with behavioral descriptions specifying an unacquainted male-female encounter in a bar or nightclub setting.
• Target Population: Human males, young adults and adults (aged 18 years and older; primary validation conducted on men aged 19–25).
• Item Count: 10-item core standardized psychometric measure (derived from an empirically validated behavioral inventory of 21 drinking-environment harassment and aggression acts).
• Response Scale: 5-point frequency Likert scale:
  • 1 = Never
  • 2 = Rarely
  • 3 = Occasionally
  • 4 = Fairly often
  • 5 = Very often
• Recall Period: Standardized to behaviors occurring over a 6-month reference window within bars, pubs, or nightclubs (validated with reference to the 6 months preceding the COVID-19 pandemic nightlife closures).
• Scoring Rules:
  • Continuous Total Score: Items are summed (range 10–50 for the core scale) or averaged (range 1.0–5.0), where higher scores indicate higher frequency and versatility of sexually aggressive perpetration.
  • Dichotomous Perpetration Index: Perpetration can also be categorized categorically (0 = Non-perpetrator: endorsed 1-Never across all items; 1 = Perpetrator: endorsed ≥2 on at least one item).
  • Subscale Scoring: Items can be categorized into sub-domains (Noncontact Harassment, Unwanted Physical Contact, and Persistence After Refusal) to assess behavioral typology profiles.
  • Reverse Scoring: None. All items are positively keyed toward aggressive perpetration.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Common Acts of Sexual Harassment and Aggression in Drinking Environments Scale (C-SHADE) was formally published in 2023 in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research by Kathryn Graham and colleagues. The scale is non-commercial and available free of charge for academic, public health, and non-commercial scientific research purposes. Researchers wishing to utilize, adapt, or integrate the C-SHADE into prevention program evaluations are encouraged to contact the corresponding author, Dr. Kathryn Graham ([email protected]), to register their project and ensure fidelity of administration.

References

• Abbey, A., Wegner, R., Woerner, J., Pegram, S. E., & Pierce, J. (2014). Review of survey and experimental research that examines the relationship between alcohol consumption and men's sexual aggression perpetration. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 15(4), 265–282. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838014521031
• Becker, J. C., & Tinkler, J. E. (2015). "Me getting drunk and him smelling like beer": The role of alcohol in women's experiences of unwanted sexual attention in social settings. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(18), 3296–3319. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514555129
• Graham, K., Bernards, S., Abbey, A., Senn, C., Dumas, T. M., Trudell, A., Donnelly, P. D., & Wells, S. (2023). Development and validation of the C-SHADE Scale for measuring perpetration of common sexually harassing and aggressive behaviors in drinking environments. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 47(6), 1191–1203. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.15087
• Graham, K., Bernards, S., Flynn, A., Tremblay, P. F., & Wells, S. (2017). Does the purpose make the difference? A qualitative study of female targets' perceptions of sexual harassment in bars. Violence Against Women, 23(14), 1699–1721. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216644070
• Graham, K., Bernards, S., Osgood, D. W., & Wells, S. (2014). "Bad ass or pussy": The role of gender and peer group in barroom aggression among young adults. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75(4), 585–594. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2014.75.585
• Graham, K., Bernards, S., Wells, S., Osgood, D. W., Abbey, A., Felson, R. B., & Saltz, R. F. (2010). Behavioural indicators of motives for barroom aggression: An observational study. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 34(11), 1973–1983. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01255.x
• Koss, M. P., Abbey, A., Campbell, R., Cook, S., Norris, J., Testa, M., Ullman, S., West, C., & White, J. (2007). Revising the SES: A collaborative process to improve assessment of sexual assault. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31(4), 357–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2007.00385.x
• Malamuth, N. M., Sockloskie, R. J., Koss, M. P., & Tanaka, J. S. (1991). Characteristics of aggressors against women: Testing a model using a national sample of college students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59(5), 670–681. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.59.5.670
• Steele, C. M., & Josephs, R. A. (1990). Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist, 45(8), 921–933. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.8.921
• Testa, M., & Cleveland, M. J. (2017). Does alcohol make it worse? The role of drinking in the perpetration of sexual aggression among college men. Addictive Behaviors, 65, 234–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.10.010
• Thompson, M. P., & Cracco, E. J. (2008). Sexual aggression among college students: Individual and environmental factors. Journal of American College Health, 57(3), 325–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448480802468882

Items of the Scale