Underneath the Mask of the Strong Black Woman Schema: Disentangling Influences of Strength and Self-Silencing on Depressive Symptoms among U.S. Black Women

Sex Roles - Recent investigations have elucidated the influence of the Strong Black Woman (SBW) Schema on the mental health and treatment seeking behaviors of Black women in the United States....     

Navigating the Workplace: The Costs and Benefits of Shifting Identities at Work among Early Career U.S. Black Women

Although much progress has been made in race relations in the United States, discrimination still persists in the workplace. As a result, Black women, among individuals from other underrepresented groups, develop coping strategies, such as identity shifting, to diminish the negative consequences of discrimination. We used the phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory to examine shifting racial, gender, and class identities among early career (recent college graduates) U.S. Black women working in predominantly White environments. Drawing on ten semi-structured interviews with college-educated Black women, data were analyzed with an interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results revealed two major themes: (a) benefits of identity shifting and (b) the costs of identity shifting, the latter with five subthemes: (a) managing interpersonal rejection: frozen effect, (b) assimilation to the dominant culture and inauthenticity, (c) confronting and dismantling stereotypes, (d) model Black citizen, and (c) mixed feelings toward identity shifting. The findings indicate that Black women vacillate between the benefits and costs of identity shifting, altering their dialect and behavior to meet social norms. Our study’s implications suggest the necessity of a multicultural approach by employers to affirm their workers’ social identities, strengthen employee relationships, and lessen the need for shifting identities.     

In Their Own Words: Research Misconduct from the Perspective of Researchers in Malaysian Universities

Published data and studies on research misconduct, which focuses on researchers in Malaysia, is still lacking, therefore, we decided that this was an area for investigation. This study provides qualitative results for the examined issues through series of in-depth interviews with 21 researchers and lecturers in various universities in Malaysia. The aims of this study were to investigate the researchers’ opinions and perceptions regarding what they considered to be research misconduct, their experience with such misconduct, and the factors that contribute to research misconduct. Our findings suggest that the most common research misconducts that are currently being witnessed in Malaysian universities are plagiarism and authorship disputes, however, researchers seldom report incidents of research misconduct because it takes too much time, effort and work to report them, and some are just afraid of repercussions when they do report it. This suggests possible loopholes in the monitoring system, which may allow some researchers to bypass it and engage in misconduct. This study also highlights the structural and individual factors as the most influential factors when it comes to research misconduct besides organizational, situational and cultural factors. Finally, this study highlights the concerns of all participants regarding the ‘publish or perish’ pressure that they believe would lead to a hostile working environment, thus enhancing research misconduct, as researchers tend to think about their own performance rather than that of whole team or faculty. Consequently this weakens the interpersonal relationships among researchers, which may compromise the teaching and supervision of junior researchers and research students.     

In Her Own Words: Semi-structured Interviews of Women Veterans Who Experienced Military Sexual Assault

Twenty-one female veterans volunteered to talk about 29 events of military sexual assault (MSA) via semi-structured interviews covering pre-military abuse, during and immediately after the assault and reactions post-assault. The 14 who reported on-going abuse in childhood, also experienced multiple events of MSA. Common themes revealed that most events happened at night (52% specifically referenced night, while 69% most likely occurred at night), 24% in a car, and 24% while the victim was on duty. MSA was associated with a low use of weapons (17% with knives or guns) but a high use (52%) of physical violence (e.g., hitting, choking) and intimidation (59%). 69% knew their perpetrator prior to the assault and 12 of them (60%) were superiors. 34.5% of the perpetrators and 24% of the victims were drinking alcohol prior to the assault. 27.5% reported the MSA; however, 52% had to continue to interact with the perpetrator as part of her job. 67% reported being pregnant or seriously injured as a result of the MSA; however, only 28% received help. 71% disclosed that they had suicidal ideation 14% made suicide attempts while on active duty, and 38% made a suicide attempt some time in their lifetime post-MSA. 52% said the MSA lead to an early discharge from the military. 76% stated MSA interfered with their ability to have an intimate relationship. All participants graduated Warrior Renew sexual trauma treatment and reported positive responses. Although this is a small sample, findings may help generate hypotheses for larger scale studies.     

Reproductive Vocabularies: Interrogating Intersections of Reproduction,Sexualities, and Religion among U.S. Cisgender College Women

Although feminists often examine the ways reproduction shapes women’s lives, such research typically only focuses on the effects of reproduction after the fact while leaving reproductive decision-making beforehand unexplored. In the present article, we flip this pattern by outlining the “vocabularies of motive” (Mills 1940) cisgender women offer for wanting to engage in or abstain from reproduction. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 class-privileged, cisgender U.S. women in college who possess the resources to forego reproduction, we analyze how they define their reproductive intentions as (a) conforming to social expectations, (b) seeking fulfillment, (c) replicating past experience, and/or (d) rejecting reproduction and parenting. Further, we compare and contrast the reproductive vocabularies of motive offered by heterosexual and bisexual as well as religious and nonreligious cisgender women in our sample. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding women’s reproductive decision-making and the social construction of reproductive norms.     

Never Let Them See You Sweat: Silencing and Striving to Appear Perfect among U.S. College Women

Drawing on Goffman??s (1959) impression management, the present study examined how silencing the self (Jack & Dill, 1992) related to psychological distress in US college women. A sample of 149 women aged 18 to 25 enrolled at a large southwestern U.S. university completed a series of survey instruments aimed at gaining knowledge of how several potentially pressure-filled domains of women??s college environment (i.e., Body Image, Romance, Peers, Academics) may factor into a relationship between Silencing and Distress. Path analysis revealed that Silencing was directly, positively related to each source of pressure with the exception of Academic Engagement (where a negative relationship existed). Furthermore, Silencing was directly, positively related to Anxiety and Depression. Additionally, internalization of the thin ideal and competitiveness were predictive of distress among women who Present Perfection, or strive to appear perfect to others. Cluster analyses revealed 4 interpretable clusters of factors related to distress: Middle-of-the-Road, Moderately Appearance Focused, Other-Focused, and Reject Appearance Norms. The Other-Focused women showed the highest levels of distress and lowest academic engagement while those who Reject Appearance Norms showed the lowest distress and highest academic engagement. These relationships indicated that higher levels of attempting to appear perfect to others were related to higher levels of distress among US college women in our sample. This study points to a factor ??Presenting Perfection?? that may be instrumental in understanding self-silencing behaviors in college women, as well as further understanding the relation between body image, orientation toward others?? judgments, and distress.     

Gendered Racism and Mental Health among Young Adult U.S. Black Women: The Moderating Roles of Gendered Racial Identity Centrality and Identity Shifting

Sex Roles - Black women are uniquely located at the intersection of two marginalized identities which puts them at risk of experiencing a combined discrimination known as gendered racism. Among...     

In Their Own Words: Mental Health and Quality of Life of West African Refugees in Nigeria

Refugees are exposed to extreme stressors and are therefore at risk of mental health and social problems. Other issues refugees have to cope with include the loss of their country, culture, language, profession, family, friends, and future plans. Much of the studies that have been done on refugee mental health have not attempted to explain what these experiences mean to these individuals. Thus, this study provides explorative data on the mental health and quality of life of West African refugees living in Nigeria in order to understand their views and perspectives. This study carried out in 2010 employed qualitative methods; a total of four focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among adult male and female refugees purposively selected at the Oru Refugee Camp, Ogun State, Nigeria. Respondents described quality of life as a major determinant of mental health status. Most of the participants believed that women were more predisposed to mental ill health due to their sensitive emotional make-up. Factors identified by respondents as affecting mental health and quality of life among refugees included poverty, unemployment, physical health, housing and environment, discrimination, stigmatization, and insecurity. Refugees rated their mental health and quality of life as poor due to the aforementioned factors. Recommendations were made to the international community, national and local governments to invest more on education, provision of vocational and entrepreneurial skills as well as adequate housing in order to improve the mental health and quality of life of refugees.     

Being a Black Woman Philosopher: Reflections on Founding the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers

Although the American Philosophical Association has more than 11,000 members, there are still fewer than 125 Black philosophers in the United States, including fewer than thirty Black women holding a PhD in philosophy and working in a philosophy department in the academy. 1 The following is a “musing” about how I became one of them and how I have sought to create a positive philosophical space for all of us.     

Domesticating Deathcare: The Women of the U.S. Natural Deathcare Movement

This article examines the women-led natural deathcare movment in the early 21^st century U.S., focusing upon the movement’s non-coincidental epistemological and gender-political similarities to the natural childbirth movement. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and drawing upon the author’s intensive interviews with pioneers and leaders of the U.S. natural deathcare movement, as well as from the author’s own participation in the movement, this article argues that the political similarities between the countercultural natural childbirth and natural deathcare movements reveal a common cultural provocation—one that spans the natal transition and the fatal transition.     

The Labor Force Participation and Earnings Gap among African Immigrant Women in the U.S.A.

Research on the socioeconomic attainment of immigrants has increased in recent decades. But there is a lot to be discovered in this area, especially the labor force participation and earnings of African immigrant women in the U.S.A. In this article, we use the 5% Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples (IPUMS) to examine changes in size and composition of the female African immigrant population in the U.S.A. and differences in the labor force participation and earnings between black and white African immigrant women during the period of 1980?C2008. The results show that the female African immigrant population increased by an annual average growth rate of 23% between 1980 and 2008, with a much higher growth among black female Africans (81%) than whites (5%). The racial composition shifted from a white majority (68%) in 1980 to a black majority (72%) in 2008. Multivariate analysis of the labor force participation and personal earnings showed that the white advantage echoed in previous research had disappeared in 2008 when black African women became more likely to be in the labor force participation and to earn higher income than their white counterparts, net of the effects of socio-demographic variables. Such results challenge the labor queue theory, which assumes that white people have an absolute advantage in American job market.     

Black Beauty: Skin Color and Body Images among African-American College Women1

Skin color has played an historically influential role in the lives of African Americans. The present study examined the role of skin color (i. e., its lightness-darkness) as it pertained to various body-image measures among 66 light-, medium-, and darkskinned Black college females. A Skin Color Assessment Procedure was developed to assess various perceptual dimensions of skin color. Although subjects were generally satisfied with their skin tone, the idealization of lightness was apparent in several respects. Those who desired a different skin tone favored being lighter more than being darker. Unlike light- and dark-skinned Black females, medium-toned Black females' held personal ideals that were significantly lighter than their self-perceived color. The majority of subjects believed that Black men found light skin most attractive. Although actual skin color did not predict various facets of body image satisfaction, skin color satisfaction was positively related to satisfaction with overall appearance and with the face. Future research should address the possible mediating role of racial identity vis-a-vis the effects of skin color and racial physiognomy on body image.     

Playing the Woman Card: Ambivalent Sexism in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Race

Late in the 2016 U.S. Presidential primary, Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton for playing the “woman’s card.” Theories of system justification suggest that attitudes about gender, particularly endorsement of hostile and benevolent sexism, likely shaped reactions to this campaign attack. Using a set of two studies, we find that hostile sexists exposed to the attack showed increased support for Trump and decreased support for Clinton. Benevolent sexists, however, reacted to Trump’s statements with increased support for Clinton, consistent with benevolent sexism’s focus on protecting women (Study 1). We further found that the woman card attack produced distinct emotional reactions among those with low and high levels of hostile and benevolent sexism. The attack also increased political participation among hostile sexists (Study 2). Our results offer new insights into the role of sexism in the 2016 presidential contest and further the discipline’s understanding of the gendered dimension of negative campaigning.     

Effects of Sexual Victimization on Suicidal Ideation and Behavior in U.S. College Women

This study examines the relationship between suicidal ideation and behavior and five types of sexual victimization in a sample of 393 female undergraduate students. Participants completed self-report measures of sexual victimization, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior. Adult sexual victimization, but not childhood sexual abuse, predicted current hopelessness and suicidal ideation. Both childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual victimization predicted suicidal behavior. One in four rape victims, in contrast to approximately 1 in 20 nonvictimized women, had engaged in a suicidal act. Vaginal penetration following the threat or use of physical force was a stronger predictor of suicidal behavior than penetration without the use of force and/or force without penetration. The findings point to the importance of inquiring about experiences of sexual victimization when conducting research or treatment with suicidal women as well as the need for suicide risk assessment in programs for victims of sexual violence.     

On Their Own Ground: Strategies of Resistance for Sunni Muslim Women

Drawing from work in feminist moral philosophy, Tobin argues that the most common methodology used in practical ethics is a questionable methodology for addressing practical problems across diverse cultural contexts because the kind of impartiality it requires is neither feasible nor desirable. She then defends an alternative methodology for practical ethics in a global context and uses her proposed methodology to evaluate a problem that confronts many Sunni Muslim women around the world.     

The Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire: a measurement invariance examination among U.S. Anglos and U.S. Hispanics

The aim of this article is to assess the measurement invariance of the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ) in U.S. Anglo (n = 490) and U.S. Hispanic ( n = 379) samples of college students. The BVAQ items demonstrated invariance of the factor loadings, the latent item intercepts, and unique factor variances. However, Hispanics had higher verbalizing scores and lower fantasizing scores on the latent variables. As a whole, the BVAQ requires additional testing and/or refinement for use with a Hispanic sample. Until such refinements, the authors recommend that the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 be used with U.S. Hispanic samples.     

Perceived discrimination and educational attainment for U.S. Black adults: the influence of Black racial identity

Social Psychology of Education - Few studies have examined the role of Black racial identity as a moderator of the relation between perceived discrimination and educational attainment among Black...     

The Psychological Impact of Sexual Harassment on Women in the U.S. Military

The purpose of this research is to study the prevalence, dimensions, and correlates of psychological harm that women experience as the result of sexual harassment in the workplace. I employed data collected from a worldwide survey of sexual harassment in the active-duty U.S. military. The scientifically selected sample included over 10,000 working military women. Four general types of negative psychosocial reactions were identified among victims of sexual harassment: productivity problems, attitudes toward the organization, emotional reactions, and relations with family. Analyses explored the relations of these psychosocial reactions to (a) characteristics of the harassing behavior (what happened and who did it), (b) characteristics of the victim, (c) characteristics of the organizational climate in which the harassment took place, and (d) the victim's coping responses.