Once, twice, or three times as harmful? Ethnic harassment, gender harassment, and generalized workplace harassment.

Despite scholars’ and practitioners’ recognition that different forms of workplace harassment often co-occur in organizations, there is a paucity of theory and research on how these different forms of harassment combine to influence employees’ outcomes. We investigated the ways in which ethnic harassment (EH), gender harassment (GH), and generalized workplace harassment (GWH) combined to predict target individuals’ job-related, psychological, and health outcomes. Competing theories regarding additive, exacerbating, and inuring (i.e., habituating to hardships) combinations were tested. We also examined race and gender differences in employees’ reports of EH, GH, and GWH. The results of two studies revealed that EH, GH, and GWH were each independently associated with targets’ strain outcomes and, collectively, the preponderance of evidence supported the inurement effect, although slight additive effects were observed for psychological and physical health outcomes. Racial group differences in EH emerged, but gender and race differences in GH and GWH did not. Implications are provided for how multiple aversive experiences at work may harm employees’ well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism, ideology, and political candidate choice.

2 experiments were conducted investigating the relationship between F Scale scores and preference for the candidates of a particular party or ideology. Exp. I showed that Ss with high scores on the F Scale preferred the Republican party and voted for Nixon while those with low scores preferred the Democratic party and voted for Kennedy. The relationship was hypothesized to appear because (a) both candidates clearly differed in the degree to which they represetned liberal and conservative ideologies, (b) the voters possessed an ideological outlook, and (c) liberal or conservative values were more salient than other factors in the choice of candidates. In Exp. II, 3 samples of students were presented with different pairs of candidates: liberal Democrat and conservative Republican, liberal Republican and conservative Democrat, and candidates ideologically equated. Ignoring candidate ideology, there was no relationship between F score and party vote. When ideology was taken into account, high scorers voted for the conservative candidate and low scorers voted for the liberal candidate regardless of party label. When the stimulus figures were equated ideologically there was no relationship between F scores and choice. There was no support for the hypothesis that choices by high scorers were more subject to the pressure of group norms than those of low scorers. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analyzing campus climate studies: Seeking to define and understand.

The term campus climate has become commonplace within higher education. However, there is little consensus on how best to define and measure it. Our study is a qualitative content analysis of 118 campus climate studies. Guided by the conceptual understanding of campus climate put forth by Peterson and Spencer (1990), we explore the nature of campus climate research based upon studies found in a clearinghouse database of faculty campus climate studies. We found that those conducting studies are most often institutional employees. There was no standardization of design or instrumentation in these studies. Studies did not rely on a single definition of campus climate or on any set of best practices for assessing campus climate. Additionally, studies explored various aspects and constituents of the campus--both in and out of the classroom, and for the working environment for faculty and students and occasionally staff and administrators. Implications and specific recommendations for conducting campus climate research based upon extant literature and on findings from the study are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When leaders harass: The impact of target perceptions of organizational leadership and climate on harassment reporting and outcomes.

Using cases of harassment by leaders, the authors examined the effects of target perceptions of leader responses to sexual harassment and whether leader implementation of harassment policies made a difference beyond the impact of the policies themselves. Results showed that women who perceived that leaders made honest efforts to stop harassment felt significantly freer to report harassment, were more satisfied with the complaint process, and reported greater commitment than did those viewing leaders as more harassment tolerant. Different leadership levels had different effects, with hierarchically proximal leaders generally having the greatest impact. Leadership mediated the relationship between organizational policy and outcomes, supporting the view that a key role for leaders is establishing an ethical organizational climate that reinforces formal harassment policies through actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factorial invariance of a campus climate measure across race, gender, and student classification.

Invariance analyses using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to test a model of campus climate perceptions for its equivalence in a combined sample of 2,634 undergraduate and graduate university students across race, gender, and student status. Results suggested that a multidimensional model of campus climate comprised of psychological and behavioral climate dimensions appears to be supported for both undergraduate and graduate students across race/ethnicity and gender. Nonequivalence of factor loadings seen in all three invariance comparisons indicated that relationships between items and the underlying factors differed in magnitude on some climate dimensions between males and females, White and ethnic minority students, and graduate versus undergraduate students. Implications for future climate measurement and higher education policy and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Color-blind racial attitudes, social dominance orientation, racial-ethnic group membership and college students' perceptions of campus climate.

Racial-ethnic group membership, color-blind racial attitudes (i.e., unawareness of racial privilege, institutional discrimination, and blatant racial issues), and social dominance orientation were used to predict perceptions of campus climate in general and specifically for people of color among a sample of 144 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at a predominately White university. Results indicate that after controlling for racial-ethnic minority status, perceptions of "general campus climate" (GCC) and "racial-ethnic campus climate" (RECC) are predicted by color-blind racial attitudes. Post hoc analyses indicated that unawareness of racial privilege partially mediated the relationship between race and RECC and fully mediated the relationship between race and GCC. Individuals with higher levels of color-blind racial attitudes tend to perceive the campus climate more positively. Implications for research, training and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complainant behavioral tone, ambivalent sexism, and perceptions of sexual harassment.

Previous research has examined the impact of the law on decisions made about social sexual interactions in the workplace in the context of a variety of individual difference variables including gender of the observer and sexist attitudes, as well as situational factors including legal standard and prior exposure to aggressive and submissive complainants. The current study continued this line of inquiry by testing whether hostile or benevolent sexist attitudes behaved differently under manipulated exposure to aggressive and submissive complainants. Full-time workers watched 1 videotape in which aggressive, submissive, or neutral (i.e., businesslike) women complained that male coworkers sexually harassed them; then, participants viewed a second complainant who always acted in a neutral behavioral tone. In the first case, participants high in hostile sexism who took a reasonable person perspective (but not those with a reasonable woman point of view) and all men who viewed an aggressive complainant found less evidence of harassment. With the second set of allegations, female workers who were exposed to a submissive complainant in the first case found less evidence of harassment against the neutral complainant, suggesting that exposure to a submissive complainant triggered some type of victim blaming in female workers. Policy and training implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A qualitative investigation of white students’ perceptions of diversity.

Diversity is used in countless vision statements of institutions of higher learning. Yet, it is critical to examine how students understand the concept and conceptualize their personal involvement. Given that the current population of college students is predominantly White, it is important to examine this population. The current sample consisted of 151 self-identified White college students (61 men and 90 women) from a predominantly White, residential, liberal arts college. Responses to 2 open-ended questions—“In your own words, express how you would define the term diversity?” and “How do Whites fit into your definition of diversity?”—were analyzed in Atlas.ti 5.0 using an open coding method. Race was the most common definition of diversity (61%). A smaller number of students conceptualized diversity as involving interaction across differences (41.7%). The majority of the respondents (80%) felt Whites have a role in diversity, but the nature of that role varied. Findings suggest that it is helpful to have clear institutional definitions of diversity to provide multiple entry points and increase the likelihood that White students will engage in campus diversity initiatives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial and leadership identities among leaders of identity-based campus organizations.

In this article, we describe a qualitative study of identities of 18 college students leading identity-based campus organizations at 1 large public institution. Identity-based organizations are those registered student groups whose mission includes serving the educational, cultural, social, or other needs and interests of students from a given psychosocial identity (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation). We observed 2 paths that students followed through their leadership experience: (1) A “parallel” path in which students experienced their psychosocial identity and their leadership identity separately, and (2) a “merged” path in which students merged these identities into a sense of being, for example, a “gay leader” or a “Latina activist.” Based on our findings that student leaders in identity-based organizations experience both psychosocial identities and leadership identities as salient—whether parallel or merged—we make recommendations for higher education practice, policy, and research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement and assessment in campus climate research: A scientific imperative.

This article provides a brief introduction to this special issue of the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education on "Measurement and Assessment in Campus Climate Research." As institutions across the country seek to increase structural diversity, campus climate has become an integral component on diversity initiatives. In the face of ongoing attacks against diversity efforts, campus climate researchers will be under increasing scrutiny and pressure to provide evidence for the validity of their findings. To date, there has been little attention in the scholarly literature regarding the quality of methods of measurement and assessment in campus climate research. This special issue provides a set of five articles addressing important issues in this important area of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Participation in formal and informal campus diversity experiences: Effects on students' racial democratic beliefs.

The authors examined the influence of participation in formal campus diversity experiences (e.g., courses and workshops) and interracial friendships on 2 specific democratic racial beliefs among a racially diverse sample of freshmen (N = 589). Using separate path analyses for each outcome, the authors examined the effects of diversity experiences and friendships on universal diverse orientation (UDO) and color-blind racial ideology over the course of an academic year. While controlling for sex and entrance attitudes, the authors found support across racial groups for models predicting UDO and racial color-blindness. Furthermore, participation in formal diversity experiences and interracial friendships mediated a number of the associations. The authors also tested 2 causal mediation models examining the influence of 1 racial belief at entrance on the other racial belief at follow-up (e.g., UDO at entrance on racial color-blindness at follow-up) and found that the model predicting color-blind racial ideology provided an adequate fit to the data for White, Black, and Latino/a students; participation in formal diversity experiences mediated this association among White students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of workplace harassment, gender, and use of services: An update.

Using three waves of data from an ongoing study of current and former university employees (N = 1,656), the authors reexamined the roles of sexual (SH) and generalized (GWH) workplace harassment and gender in predicting use of professional services by focusing on patterning (chronic, remission, onset, intermittent, and never harassed). The authors also reexamined whether services moderated relationships between SH and GWH patterns and drinking and mental health outcomes. All patterns of SH, but only chronic GWH, predicted increased odds of services use. Services use did not moderate relationship between SH patterns and outcomes, but was associated with lower alcohol consumption for men with GWH remission or chronicity, reduced escape drinking for those with GWH remission, and reduced hostility for those with intermittent GWH. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anti-Black racism, self-esteem, and the adjustment of White students in higher education.

The present study examined the negative consequences of racism to White university students. It was hypothesized that anti-Black racism would impact students' self-esteem, college social adjustment, and college personal-emotional adjustment above and beyond academic adjustment. It was further expected that self-esteem would mediate the relationship between racism and college adjustment. In a White university student sample, students reporting attitudes reflecting a combination of overtly racist and egalitarian attitudes toward Blacks also reported lower levels of self-esteem and college social adjustment. Furthermore, self-esteem mediated the relationship between anti-Black racism and college social adjustment. Findings inform the multidimensional nature of negative consequences of racism to Whites in higher education. A discussion of implications from this research with regard to the creation of diverse and culturally sensitive university environments is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of students' willingness to report threats of violence in campus communities.

Objective: This study extends prior work on students' willingness to report threats of violence to college-aged populations. Method: Undergraduate students (N = 967) were sampled from a large university in the Southern U.S. Results: Almost seventy percent (69%) of students endorsed being “at least somewhat willing” to report a threatening peer. Trust in the college support system (e.g., trust in police, administrators) was positively related to students' willingness to report threats of violence. Similarly, feeling connected to the campus environment was positively related to willingness to report threats directly and indirectly through trust in the college support system. In contrast, delinquency was negatively related to willingness to report and self-efficacy toward service (i.e., the belief that one can have a positive impact) only was positively related to reporting in the presence of trust in the college support system and campus connectedness. Lastly, fear of negative evaluation was unrelated to students' willingness to report. Conclusion: To facilitate threat reporting, it is important for students to feel connected to the campus community and trust in members of the college support system as self-efficacy toward service is not sufficient by itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The anal character and political aggression.

"Two scales were developed, one to measure anal character traits as described in Freudian psychoanalytic theory, and the other politically aggressive attitudes. These were administered to 130 college student subjects. A significant positive relation was obtained between the two scales, which is interpreted as indicating that psychoanalytic factors play a role in political attitudes." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A within-subject longitudinal study of the effects of positive job experiences and generalized workplace harassment on well-being.

Drawing on the mobilization-minimization hypothesis, this research examines the influence of positive job experiences and generalized workplace harassment (GWH) on employee job stress and well-being over time, postulating declines in the adverse influence of GWH between Time 1 and 2 and less pronounced declines in the influence of positive job experiences over this same timeframe of approximately one year. A national sample of 1,167 workers polled via telephone at two time periods illustrates that negative job experiences weigh more heavily on mental health than do positive job experiences in the short-term. In the long-term, GWH's association with mental health and job stress was diminished. But its effects on job stress, and mental health, and physical health persist over one year, and, in the case of long-term mental health, GWH overshadows the positive mental health effects of positive job experiences. The research also argues for a reconceptualization of GWH and positive job experiences as formative latent variables on theoretical grounds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of the academic aptitude of university extension degree students and campus students.

The scores of 68 extension students in business administration on the ACE Psychological Examination and the Coop Reading Comprehension Examination were compared with scores of 119 business administration freshmen. Slight, statistically significant differences in favor of the extension students were found for two of the reading subtests. "… it might be assumed that extension students… were capable of doing college level work and hence entitled to credit for that work." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and ethnicity as moderators in the sexual harassment phenomenon: A revision and test of Fitzgerald et al. (1994).

Fitzgerald, Hulin, and Drasgow (1994) proposed that personal vulnerability characteristics (such as sex and ethnicity) would moderate the effect of sexual harassment on its outcomes. This paper argues that personal vulnerability characteristics instead moderate the effect of organizational sexual harassment climate on sexual harassment because of their role as identity markers within social hierarchies. Using a sample of nearly 8,000 male and female military personnel from four ethnicity groups, the proposition that organizational climate differentially affects sexual harassment frequency across sex and ethnicity was evaluated. Results suggested that sex is an important moderator of these relationships, but that ethnicity is not. Further, sex and ethnicity were not found to moderate the effect of sexual harassment on its outcomes. Potential generalizability of these results to other types of harassment (e.g., racial harassment, bullying), as well as needed future research in this area, is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation: The dysfunctional side of diversity.

Diverse workforces are desirable for a myriad of reasons but have the potential to trigger adverse actions. This article discusses "dysfunctional" consequences of diversity in the workplace, employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation and describes how jurors perceive employment litigation, interpret information, and render verdicts. Jurors try to "do the right thing," exercise common sense, rely on instinct, do not feel obligated to follow the law, make rapid credibility assessments, and engage in selective attention and perception. Trials are interpreted within the context of an information processing model in which jurors perceive, retain, and process the facts and issues in the case as a function of their prior experiences and preconceptions. The importance of employment misconduct investigations is considered. Guidance for risk management professionals and attorneys is offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the social perceptions of authoritarians and nonauthoritarians.

104 college students were given a 28-item version of the F scale twice. In the first administration Ss were given the usual instructions, but in the second administration they were asked to give the responses they believed would be given by a typical student at their college. Among the results, it was found that there is a general tendency for Ss to estimate higher F scale scores for the typical student than they themselves possess and that the general tendency of the Ss to estimate F scale scores higher than their own is more marked among the nonauthoritarians than the authoritarians. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)