Stigma Consciousness Research Articles

Stigma of Women Leadership: The Impact on Trust and Leader Effectiveness

Stigma consciousness is crucial for influencing the effectiveness of female leaders, particularly in transformational leadership. Despite the increasing representation of women in the workplace, they still face significant challenges in reaching the highest organizational positions. This study explores how stigma consciousness moderates the impact of women’s transformational leadership on trust and leader effectiveness, while trust in leaders mediates these relationships. The research model in this study was analyzed using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) and the AMOS 28 software. This approach allows researchers to look at multiple complex relationships at the same time and combines regression and factor analysis to obtain a full picture of how variables interact with each other. We assessed the descriptive statistics and psychometric properties of the measurement scales using SPSS 28. Data were collected from 200 team members and subordinates of female leaders at various organizations in Indonesia. The results indicate that although women’s transformational leadership significantly enhances trust in leaders and leader effectiveness, this impact is moderated by stigma consciousness levels. High stigma consciousness weakens the positive effect of women’s transformational leadership on trust in leaders, thus reducing leadership effectiveness. Conversely, lower levels of stigma consciousness reinforce this positive effect. This finding highlight stigma consciousness as a barrier to women leaders’ trust and an obstacle to achieving leadership effectiveness. Reducing stigma consciousness is essential for the effective acceptance and recognition of women’s leadership. An inclusive, supportive environment free from stigma enables women to lead more effectively and gain greater team trust.

Effects of Stereotype Threat on Women's Leadership Aspirations and Affective Responses: The Role of Stigma Consciousness.

This paper aims to investigate the role of stereotype threat and the moderating role of gender stigma consciousness on women's leadership aspiration, leadership career goal, social self-esteem, and negative affect across two experimental studies in Türkiye. We expected the detrimental effects of streotype threat to be experienced by those with high gender stigma consciousness. The first study, involving 130 female undergraduates (Mage = 20.7, SD = 4.4), presented implicit stereotype threat and showed that the threat increased the interest of team membership and women low in stigma consciousness reported higher leadership career goals than those high in stigma consciousness. The second study, conducted with 90 female undergraduates (Mage = 20.6, SD = 1.6), presented explicit stereotype threat and showed that the explicit threat had negative effect on leadership aspiration, and women high in stigma consciousness felt more negative affect and less social self-esteem due to threat than those who were low. The present research contributes to the women's leadership literature by identifying for the first time the role of stigma consciousness in the motivational and affective consequences of stereotype threat.

Visual perception of group fatness as a precursor to social identity threat and safety

ABSTRACT Across two studies (N = 190), we evaluate how fat people perceive groups of bodies and how this visual processing predicts social identity threat and safety. We examined how fat people ensemble code – rapidly and simultaneously extract visual information from a group – body size from groups of bodies. Stimuli included sets of 3-d modeled bodies varying in body mass index (BMI; Study 1) and real photographs of groups of people with known BMI (Study 2). As hypothesized, we found that fat people were generally accurate at ensemble coding the average body size of arrays after 500 ms exposure, and that, particularly among fat people with medium and high stigma consciousness, arrays of increasing average BMI were associated with heightened feelings of identity safety. Our work suggests that the representation of fatness in one’s environment may be an important precursor to social identity threat and safety processes.

Reintroducing the “Tough Black Man” and Its Socio-Demographic, Race-Related, and Psychological Correlates

The “tough Black man” is expected to be physically strong, emotionally restrictive, resilient, and self-reliant. However, to date, limited research has examined the correlates of endorsing beliefs about the “tough Black man” among Black U.S. American men. To address this gap, this research examines the sociodemographic (i.e., age, sexual identity, income, education, and relationship status), race-related (i.e., racial identity, internalized racism, everyday discrimination, and race stigma consciousness), and psychological (i.e., self-esteem, locus of control, resilience, and depression symptoms) correlates of endorsing “tough Black man” beliefs in an internet-obtained sample of 329 Black U.S. American men (Mean age = 37.22). Multiple regression analysis showed that a more positive racial identity, greater internalized racism, and higher race stigma consciousness—but not everyday discrimination experiences—were associated with greater endorsement of “tough Black man” beliefs. Multivariate regression results showed that greater endorsement of “tough Black man” beliefs was associated with greater resilience, greater internal locus of control, and more depression symptoms, but not self-esteem. Last, exploratory findings showed that endorsing beliefs about the “tough Black man” did not vary by age, income, education, relationship status, or sexual identity. This study has implications for understanding Black masculinities, along with the psycho-social and psychological correlates of internalizing intersecting race and gender stereotypes among Black U.S. American men. Together, our research provides the opportunity to expand knowledge about how internalized stigma processes, beliefs about Black manhood, and the social-structural factors that might explain it, contribute to poor health among Black U.S. American men.

Investigating students’ self-identified and reflected appraisal of femininity, masculinity, and androgyny in introductory physics courses

In the field of physics education research, numerous studies have been dedicated to investigating the relationship between gender identity and physics learning. However, these studies have predominantly employed binary gender measurement methods, which may limit the range of research questions that can be explored and impede the discovery of crucial insights. In this study, we adapted gradational measures from prior research to investigate students’ self-identified femininity, masculinity, and androgyny, as well as their reflected appraisal of femininity, masculinity, and androgyny (i.e., perceptions of how others perceive them) in both algebra-based and calculus-based introductory physics courses. The use of gradational measures revealed significant variation in students’ self-identified femininity, masculinity, and androgyny within the binary categories of women and men, providing new insights into gender dynamics in physics. We found that self-identified women in the calculus-based courses, where they are underrepresented, tend to perceive themselves as more masculine and less feminine than how they believe others perceive them. Similarly, students of color are also more likely than White students to perceive themselves as more masculine than they believe others perceive them. Using structural equation modeling, we found that students’ gender stigma consciousness plays an important role in mediating the effects of identifying as women and students of color on the observed discrepancies. Additionally, we found that women also exhibit a tendency to perceive themselves as more androgynous than they believe others perceive them in both algebra-based and calculus-based physics courses, and this phenomenon is also related to gender stigma consciousness. Moreover, our analyses revealed that students in the calculus-based courses tend to have a higher level of gender stigma consciousness even after controlling for gender and race. Our findings underscore the potential of gradational gender measurements in deepening our understanding of gender-related issues in physics education, shedding light on the complex interplay between students’ gender identity, perceptions from others, and their educational experiences in the field. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

RETRACTED: Lai, Q.; Lee, G. An Exploratory Study of the Intrinsic Mechanisms of Occupational Stigma Consciousness, Career Development, and Work–Life Balance among Female Leaders. Sustainability 2023, 15, 15945

The Sustainability Editorial Office retracts the article “An Exploratory Study of the Intrinsic Mechanisms of Occupational Stigma Consciousness, Career Development, and Work–Life Balance among Female Leaders” [...]

Initial Development and Validation of the Brief Internalized Heterosexist Racism Scale for Gay and Bisexual Black Men: A Measure of Internalized Heterosexist Racism.

We introduce internalized heterosexist racism (IHR), or the internalization of damaging stereotypes, harmful beliefs, and negative attitudes about being a sexual minority person of color. We also present the initial development and validation of the Brief Internalized Heterosexist Racism Scale for gay and bisexual Black men (IHR-GBBM), a unidimensional, 10-item measure of IHR. Exploratory factor analyses on an internet-obtained sample of gay and bisexual Black men (N = 312; Mean age = 30.36 years) show that the IHR-GBBM had evidence of good internal consistency, and good convergent, discriminant, concurrent, and incremental validity. The IHR-GBBM was positively correlated with internalized racism, internalized heterosexism, and discrimination (racist, heterosexist). IHR was also negatively correlated with race stigma consciousness, weakly positively correlated with sexual identity stigma consciousness, but not correlated with either race identity, sexual identity, or social desirability. Hierarchical regressions showed that the IHR-GBBM explained an additional variance of 2.8% and 3.1% in anxiety symptoms and substance use coping, respectively, after accounting for (1) sociodemographics, (2) internalized racism and internalized heterosexism, and (3) an interaction of internalized racism and internalized heterosexism. Older participants and those who were "out" about their sexual identity reported lower IHR. Those who did not know/want to report their HIV status reported greater IHR. Results revealed no sexual identity, sexual position, relationship status, income, education, or employment status differences in IHR. We hope the development of the IHR-GBBM spurs future research on predictors and consequences of IHR. We discuss limitations and implications for the future study of internalized heterosexist racism.

Adult Refugees and Asylum Seekers in University Preparation Programs: Competing Identities and Multiple Transitions Manifested in Stigma Consciousness and Student Self-Identification

Preparation for university studies is key to enabling adult refugees and asylum seekers to reestablish their educational and professional careers in the host country. While refugees’ transition to higher education (HE) is embedded in multiple transitions regarding social position, educational career, and migration, related identities may compete. We investigate how this is manifested in stigma consciousness and precarious student self-identification and how these factors influence the transition to HE. We combine novel quantitative and qualitative data on refugee students in prestudy programs in Germany. The results show that stigma consciousness impedes student self-identification. Moreover, stigma consciousness moderates the effect of student self-identification on the likelihood of enrolling in university. Qualitative interviews show how refugee students use strategies to deal with the stigma that unfortunately reproduces stigmatizing attributions. We provide implications for further research, educational counseling, and prestudy programs for refugees as an integral part of adult education.

Towards the measurement of stereotype threat: scale development and validation

Purpose The purpose of the study is to develop a valid measure of stereotype threat. Design/methodology/approach A convenience sample of 2,900 respondents from different occupational sectors, including managers, engineers and health-care professionals, was used for the present study. The data were collected from various government and private organizations in North India. The questionnaire survey was administered in three phases. During the first phase, 800 questionnaires were circulated, followed by 1,200 questionnaires in the second phase, and the third phase involves 900 questionnaires. The data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Findings The results indicate nine dimensions, namely, occupational identification, occupational stigma consciousness, gender identification, gender stigma consciousness, religion identification, religion stigma consciousness, caste identification, caste stigma consciousness and negative effect of stereotype threat. The study ensures the reliability and validity of the stereotype threat scale. The measure also fulfils the assumptions of nomological validity. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first of its kind to develop and validate the stereotype threat scale adhering to scale development procedures.

RETRACTED: An Exploratory Study of the Intrinsic Mechanisms of Occupational Stigma Consciousness, Career Development, and Work–Life Balance among Female Leaders

This study suggests a research model for investigating the negative impact of occupational stigma consciousness from the perspective of the Conservation of Resources theory. It explores the intrinsic mechanisms connecting female leaders’ stigma consciousness with their career development and work–life balance and verifies the relationships between these variables. This study conducts a quantitative analysis of data collected from a sample of 400 female leaders in Chinese enterprises and institutions. A structural equation modeling approach is used to test the proposed hypotheses. Our findings reveal that the stigma consciousness of female leadership has a significant negative impact on their career advancement and work–life balance. This negative influence is mediated by emotional exhaustion. Additionally, self-efficacy negatively moderates the relationship between female leadership stigma consciousness and emotional exhaustion.

Unveiling the paradox of technostress: Impacts of technology-driven stressors on the elderly's avoidance behaviors

This study reveals the paradox of technostress on the elderly due to the large-scale COVID testing during the post-COVID-19 period. Drawing upon the stressor-strain-outcomes framework, we examined how technology-driven stressors affect the elderly's avoidance behaviors. Results indicate that two types of technology-driven stressors exert opposite influences on the elderly's avoidance behaviors through the mediating effect of technology anxiety. Specifically, the elderly's technology-driven challenge stressors exert a positive influence on their avoidance behaviors, while the elderly's technology-driven hindrance stressors exert a negative influence. Moreover, stigma consciousness plays a moderating role in the relationship between the elderly's technology-driven hindrance stressors and technology anxiety by strengthening the positive influence of the elderly's technology-driven hindrance stressors on technology anxiety. Our findings deepen the understanding of the good and bad of technostress and provide implications for older adults, technology developers, and the government.

Occupational stigma consciousness and professional commitment among Chinese nursing students: Path analysis of survey data.

Pervasive stigma exists around nursing in Chinese society and can affect nursing students' commitment to the profession. Based on the resource conservation theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between occupational stigma consciousness and psychological empowerment in nursing students' professional commitment in China. Data were collected from November 2021 to May 2022, and 1189 nursing students participated in the study. Occupational stigma consciousness, professional commitment, and psychological empowerment were assessed using a questionnaire. The path analysis indicated that occupational stigma consciousness negatively predicted professional commitment (β = -0.127, p < 0.001) and psychological empowerment (β = -0.329, p < 0.001), and psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between occupational stigma consciousness and professional commitment. To resist occupational stigma consciousness and improve nursing students' professional commitment, nursing policies and education should focus on improving psychological empowerment.

Interfaith friendships among emerging adulthood in Surabaya: The role of tolerance and stigma consciousness

Forming quality interfaith friendships is not impossible. Additionally, our society has become accustomed to differences. However, a clear explanation for the difficulty of forming such friendships has yet to be established. This study aimed to investigate the influence of tolerance and stigma consciousness on the quality of interfaith friendships. The research involved 400 respondents aged 18-25, comprising 200 Muslim respondents with at least one non-Muslim friend and 200 non-Muslim respondents with at least one Muslim friend. The quality of friendship was evaluated using the McGill Friendship Questionnaire (MFQ), while tolerance and stigma consciousness were measured using the Tolerance Index Questionnaire (TI) and Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ), respectively. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to test the research hypothesis. The study results indicate that tolerance and stigma consciousness are significant factors in determining the quality of interfaith friendships. Individuals with tolerance and low levels of stigma consciousness are more likely to form quality interfaith friendships.

Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ-PT): Validation in a Portuguese Sample of Sexual Minorities

Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ-PT): Validation in a Portuguese Sample of Sexual Minorities

Disclosing an autism diagnosis: A social identity approach.

Autistic people face a difficult dilemma around whether or not to disclose their diagnosis because autistic people are a stigmatized socialgroup. The central aim of this study was to examine if a social identity approach could be useful in understanding the factors that predict the likelihood of autistic adults disclosing their autism diagnosis in social settings, in the workplace, in educational settings and in the family. The social identity approach predicts that autistic people may cope with this dilemma by using an individualistic strategy to distance themselves from their autistic social identity. Alternatively, they may embrace their autistic social identity and use a collective strategy to resist stigma and advocate for autistic people. We present a survey based cross-sectional study (n = 175) with autistic adults living in Ireland. Participants completed a series of measures; autism social identification, stigma consciousness, and individualistic and collective strategy use to assess disclosing in the four settings. The overall models in each of the four regressions were significant. Autism social identification positively predicted disclosure in social, workplace and educational settings, while stigma consciousness negatively predicted disclosure in the family and in the workplace. Interestingly, over and above these predictors individualistic strategy use negatively predicted disclosure in each of the four settings, while collective strategy use positively predicted disclosure in social, educational and family settings. Our novel social identity approach was useful for explaining autistic adults' strategies to cope with the complex disclosure dilemma. Strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

The social context of burning mouth syndrome: an exploratory pilot study of stigma, discrimination, and pain.

The social context of burning mouth syndrome (BMS) has received little attention in the scientific literature. However, social psychological theory and insights from those with lived experiences suggest that people living with BMS experience compounding effects of stigma related to their pain, diagnosis (or lack thereof), and intersectional identities. Our aim is to provide initial evidence and to motivate new directions for research on BMS. Here, we present the results of an exploratory pilot study (n = 16) of women living with BMS in the United States. Participants completed self-report measures of stigma, discrimination, and pain, as well as laboratory assessments of pain through quantitative sensory testing. Results indicate a high prevalence of internalized BMS stigma, experience of BMS-related discrimination from clinicians, and gender stigma consciousness in this population. Moreover, results provide initial evidence that these experiences are related to pain outcomes. The most robust pattern of findings is that internalized BMS stigma was related to greater clinical pain severity, interference, intensity, and unpleasantness. Given the prevalence and pain-relevance of intersectional stigma and discrimination identified in this pilot study, lived experience and social context should be incorporated into future research on BMS.

Investigating the Associations of Sexual Minority Stressors and Incident Hypertension in a Community Sample of Sexual Minority Adults.

Sexual minority adults are at higher risk of hypertension than their heterosexual counterparts. Sexual minority stressors (i.e., unique stressors attributed to sexual minority identity) are associated with a variety of poor mental and physical health outcomes. Previous research has not tested associations between sexual minority stressors and incident hypertension among sexual minority adults. To examine the associations between sexual minority stressors and incident hypertension among sexual minority adults assigned female sex at birth. Using data from a longitudinal study, we examined associations between three sexual minority stressors and self-reported hypertension. We ran multiple logistic regression models to estimate the associations between sexual minority stressors and hypertension. We conducted exploratory analyses to determine whether these associations differed by race/ethnicity and sexual identity (e.g., lesbian/gay vs. bisexual). The sample included 380 adults, mean age 38.4 (± 12.81) years. Approximately 54.5% were people of color and 93.9% were female-identified. Mean follow-up was 7.0 (± 0.6) years; during which 12.4% were diagnosed with hypertension. We found that a 1-standard deviation increase in internalized homophobia was associated with higher odds of developing hypertension (AOR 1.48, 95% Cl: 1.06-2.07). Stigma consciousness (AOR 0.85, 95% CI: 0.56-1.26) and experiences of discrimination (AOR 1.07, 95% CI: 0.72-1.52) were not associated with hypertension. The associations of sexual minority stressors with hypertension did not differ by race/ethnicity or sexual identity. This is the first study to examine the associations between sexual minority stressors and incident hypertension in sexual minority adults. Implications for future studies are highlighted.

Stigma consciousness in Toronto’s mixed-tenure Regent Park neighbourhood

The ongoing mixed-tenure redevelopment of Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood is a multi-decade effort to rebuild the aging community’s stock of post-war public housing and radically reshape the social composition of the community with the introduction of market owners and renters. This research provides a useful quantitative complement to the now extensive body of qualitative research concerning the neighbourhood’s redevelopment, specifically investigating perceptions of stigma among both public housing and market residents using Pinel’s Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire. We find that respondents of all tenures report relatively low levels of stigma consciousness. Unexpectedly, the largest observed difference between discrete tenure groups was between market owners and renters within the market units. Additionally, we find that non-native speakers of English report lower levels of stigma consciousness while the largest source of variation, by a wide margin, is between individuals.

Gender Stigma Consciousness, Imposter Phenomenon, and Self-Silencing: A Mediational Relationship

Gender Stigma Consciousness, Imposter Phenomenon, and Self-Silencing: A Mediational Relationship

Young, unemployed, excluded: Unemployed young adults report more ostracism

AbstractOstracism—being excluded and ignored—is commonly investigated in experimental settings, leaving specific societal risk groups greatly unexplored. Here, we examined whether individuals’ employment status and age affect ostracism frequency and outsider feelings. Using panel data from two countries, we find that especially younger unemployed (vs. younger employed or older unemployed) adults report experiencing ostracism more frequently (SOEP‐IS; N = 1,750) and feeling more like outsiders (NZAVS; N ∼ 30,000 per wave). A subsequent survey study (N = 331) additionally tested three possible mediators for why younger (vs. older) unemployed individuals are more at risk of experiencing ostracism (occupational future time perspective [FTP], descriptive work norms, and work centrality). Moreover, unemployment stigma consciousness—expected stigmatisation—positively correlates with ostracism frequency and outsider feelings. The findings identify unemployed individuals as one at‐risk group for experiencing ostracism and make a first informative step in minimising ostracism experiences and their consequences for those affected.