Effects of Social Support and Undermining on African American Workers' Perceptions of Coworker and Supervisor Relationships and Psychological Well-being

Abstract

Although social undermining is a commonly experienced stressor in human services workplaces, it has received little study in contemporary models of social work stress and burnout. Furthermore, African Americans currently make up nearly 25 percent of self-identified social workers in the United States, yet most literature on personnel relationships in human services does not reference this group. Data collected from a national sample of 288 African American members of the National Association of Social Workers were used to investigate the impact of undermining among coworker and supervisor-supervisee relationships. Multiple regression analyses revealed substantial increases in irritability, depression, anxiety, and depersonalization among social workers when social undermining was included in a set of predictor variables (age, gender, and social support). The presence of social support, however, did not diminish the impact of undermining. The authors discuss several practice and training implications of these findings.