This is an introduction to the special section “Women’s Health and Trauma.” This special section aims to provide compelling and clinically relevant findings from eight rigorous studies with diverse ...samples of women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Exposure to an organizational diversity cue may help attract Black women to professional spaces. The cue transfer framework contends that because intergroup attitudes co-occur, both cues congruent or ...incongruent with one’s minoritized identity signal an environment that welcomes all minoritized persons. Critically, the utility of such cues had yet to be explored among Black women. Integrating cue transfer with social identity complexity theory, across six studies ( N = 2,167), we tested the novel prediction that Black women utilize a racial dominance identity structure and investigated the benefits of organizational diversity cues congruent and incongruent with Black women’s identities. We also drew from stigma solidarity and examined whether perceiving an outgroup associated with an incongruent cue as experiencing similar bias (i.e., shared discrimination) facilitated cue efficacy. Ultimately, only racially congruent cues encouraged organizational safety (Studies 1, 2, and 6) and procedural fairness (Studies 2, 4, and 6), while cues aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or Latino individuals (Studies 1–4) were ineffective. Moreover, despite reporting greater shared discrimination with Latino than lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender persons (Study 4), shared discrimination was inconsequential for cue efficacy (Study 3). Black women’s lay theories revealed that although they perceived negative intergroup attitudes as co-occurring, positive attitudes toward other minoritized groups were seen as unrelated to attitudes toward Black individuals (Studies 5a/5b). Finally, racially (but not gender) congruent cues mitigated organizational invisibility (Study 6). Collectively, the present investigation supports our assertion that Black women adopt a racial dominance lens and, more broadly, underscores the necessity of an intersectional framework when examining cue efficacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
Reports an error in "Using 26,000 diary entries to show ovulatory changes in sexual desire and behavior" by Ruben C. Arslan, Katharina M. Schilling, Tanja M. Gerlach and Lars Penke (
, Advanced ...Online Publication, Aug 27, 2018, np). In the original article the number of participants available for robustness checks should have been 1,054, not 1,043; this applies to the third sentence in the abstract, the first sentence of the second paragraph in the Participants section, the first sentence of the second paragraph in the Robustness Checks section, and the subsample size of women in Table 3. The correct number of naturally cycling usable data should have been 429, not 421. The correct number of diary days should have been 26,680, not 25,948. The correct percentage of diary days in the fourth sentence in the Exclusion Criteria section should have been 5%. Figure 1 should have included guessing hypotheses (n 40) and long diary interruptions (n 41) as further reasons for exclusion, and an error in the effsize R package led to the reporting of inflated effect sizes for the differences between hormonal contraceptive users and non-users in Table 1. Figure 1, Table 1, and Table 3 have been corrected. All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2018-41799-001.) Previous research reported ovulatory changes in women's appearance, mate preferences, extra- and in-pair sexual desire, and behavior, but has been criticized for small sample sizes, inappropriate designs, and undisclosed flexibility in analyses. In the present study, we sought to address these criticisms by preregistering our hypotheses and analysis plan and by collecting a large diary sample. We gathered more than 26,000 usable online self-reports in a diary format from 1,054 women, of which 429 were naturally cycling. We inferred the fertile period from menstrual onset reports. We used hormonal contraceptive users as a quasi-control group, as they experience menstruation, but not ovulation. We probed our results for robustness to different approaches (including different fertility estimates, different exclusion criteria, adjusting for potential confounds, moderation by methodological factors). We found robust evidence supporting previously reported ovulatory increases in extra-pair desire and behavior, in-pair desire, and self-perceived desirability, as well as no unexpected associations. Yet, we did not find predicted effects on partner mate retention behavior, clothing choices, or narcissism. Contrary to some of the earlier literature, partners' sexual attractiveness did not moderate the cycle shifts. Taken together, the replicability of the existing literature on ovulatory changes was mixed. We conclude with simulation-based recommendations for reading the past literature and for designing future large-scale preregistered within-subject studies to understand ovulatory cycle changes and the effects of hormonal contraception. Interindividual differences in the size of ovulatory changes emerge as an important area for further study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Although Black women face disproportionately high rates of gun violence and incarceration loss, there is a scarcity of culturally relevant interventions for this population. The aims of this study ...were to (a) examine the need for a culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and evidence-based grief intervention and to (b) identify key program components and considerations. Using a community-based participatory research framework, co-collaborators interviewed and surveyed 13 Black women who experienced gun violence and/or incarceration loss. Thematic analysis of interview data confirmed a need for this type of intervention due to the traumatic impact of losing a loved one, the inadequacy of available resources, and the personal and communal importance of addressing their grief. Critical intervention components included relationships and social support, help in “moving beyond” the experience, opportunities for emotional expression and validation, acknowledgment of spirituality and self-care, personal freedom in the grieving process, and addressing “underlying issues.” The participants also completed a survey with 24 proposed intervention activities. The 22 they identified as “very important” largely corresponded with interview codes. Barriers to treatment included judgment and invalidation, lack of trust, disinterest, feeling stuck, mental health stigma, and lack of knowledge. Opinions about combining women with different types of loss in the same group and the importance of the group developers’ lived experience were mixed. Overall, our findings support the need for culturally relevant, trauma-informed interventions in this population and provide a foundation for developing such an intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
Across two studies (n = 555), we examine the detrimental effects of the "angry black woman" stereotype in the workplace. Drawing on parallel-constraint-satisfaction theory, we argue that observers ...will be particularly sensitive to expressions of anger by black women due to widely held stereotypes. In Study 1, we examine a three-way interaction among anger, race, and gender, and find that observers are more likely to make internal attributions for expressions of anger when an individual is a black woman, which then leads to worse performance evaluations and assessments of leadership capability. In Study 2, we focus solely on women and expand our initial model by examining stereotype activation as a mechanism linking the effects of anger and race on internal attributions. We replicated findings from Study 1 and found support for stereotype activation as an underlying mechanism. We believe our work contributes to research on race, gender, and leadership, and highlights an overlooked stereotype in the management literature. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Previous research suggests that women, more than men, experience negative outcomes when they display dominance. A closer look, however, reveals ambiguity about the specific forms of dominance ...proscribed for women. Here, we suggest that negative reactions to women's dominance, a counter-stereotypical behavior, may require that the behavior be clearly encoded as counter-stereotypical-which is less likely when the behavior is expressed implicitly. This hypothesis was tested with a meta-analysis of studies on the evaluation of individuals behaving dominantly, including articles not directly investigating gender. Results revealed that dominance indeed hurts women's, relative to men's, likability (although the overall effect is small, d = −0.19, k = 63), as well as more downstream outcomes such as hireability (d = −0.58, k = 20). More important, however, dominance expressed explicitly (e.g., direct demands) affected women's likability (d = −0.28) whereas implicit forms of dominance (e.g., eye contact) did not (d = 0.03). Finally, the effect of dominance on men's and women's perceived competence did not differ (d = 0.02, k = 31), consistent with the idea that it is interpersonal (rather than instrumental) evaluations that obstruct women leaders. Implications for theory, and for the success of male and female leaders, are discussed.
Objective: Cultural stress potently predicts mental health inequities, such as anxiety, among adult and adolescent immigrants in the United States. However, less work has focused on preadolescence, a ...period marked by neurodevelopmental and psychosocial changes that can exacerbate anxiety symptoms. Latina girls, who exhibit heightened levels of untreated anxiety, may be at elevated risk. The present study tests whether cultural stress predicts anxiety symptoms in Latina girls and their caregivers. Method: The primary caregivers of 161 predominantly Mexican-identifying Latina girls ( M age = 10.70, SD = 1.68) reported their exposure to racism, acculturative stress, and political hostility. They also reported their own and their daughter’s anxiety severity. Results: To index cultural stress, a principal component was extracted from composite scores of the racism, acculturative stress, and political hostility questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analyses then tested whether the multidetermined cultural stress component predicted caregiver and child anxiety, with child age, annual household income, and subjective socioeconomic status entered at the first step. Cultural stress positively predicted caregiver (Δ R² = .13, p < .001) and child (Δ R² = .15, p < .001) anxiety symptoms over and above the observed inverse effects of subjective socioeconomic status, such that higher levels of cultural stress were associated with elevated levels of caregiver (ß = .37, p < .001) and child (ß = .39, p < .001) anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the role of racism, acculturative stress, and political hostility in escalating anxiety symptoms in Latinx families and identify cultural stress as a factor that likely contributes to the high rates of anxiety in Latina girls during a key developmental period. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
Objectives: The Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema, a multidimensional construct that promotes self-reliance, self-silencing, self-sacrificial caregiving, and resilience, has been linked to depressive ...symptoms in Black women. Yet, additional research is needed to examine the mechanisms through which this association exists. The present study examines the indirect effect of social support beliefs on the relationship between the SBW schema and depressive symptoms. Method: Data from a sample of 194 Black women ( M age = 37.53, SD = 19.88) were collected using an online survey assessing internalization of the SBW schema, depressive symptoms, and social support-seeking beliefs. Results: A primary dimension of the SBW schema, the expectation to manifest strength, was significantly positively correlated with depressive symptoms and negatively correlated with social support seeking. Depressive symptoms were also significantly negatively correlated with social support beliefs. In addition, an indirect effect of support-seeking beliefs was observed between the expectation to manifest strength and depressive symptoms ( ab = .12, 95% CI .02, .24). Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that Black women experience impairing depressive symptoms, which can be explained by race and gender-specific stress-coping ideologies and behaviors, specifically, the SBW schema. Furthermore, the SBW schema is a factor that may contribute to adverse mental health outcomes among Black women vis-à-vis decreased support-seeking beliefs. We discuss the implications of these findings and how these results can help facilitate culturally competent care for Black women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
The coronavirus disease that emerged in 2019 (COVID-19) spotlights the need for effective leadership in a crisis. Leadership research in applied psychology suggests that women tend to be preferred ...over men as leaders during uncertain times. We contribute to this literature by examining, in the context of COVID-19, whether states with women governors had fewer deaths than states with men governors, and why. We tested this research question with publicly available data on COVID-19 deaths in the United States as of May 5, 2020 and found that states with women governors had fewer COVID-19 deaths compared to states with men governors. Governor sex also interacted with early stay-at-home orders; states with women governors who issued these orders early had fewer deaths compared to states with men governors who did the same. To provide insight into psychological mechanisms of this relationship, we conducted a qualitative analysis of governor briefings that took place between April 1, 2020 and May 5, 2020 (251 briefings, 38 governors, 1.2 million words). Compared to men, women governors expressed more empathy and confidence in their briefings. Practical implications are discussed.