Workplace stress and discrimination effects on the physical and depressive symptoms of underrepresented minority faculty

Abstract

Evidence‐based research and interventions to address systemic institutional racism have never been more urgent. Yet, underrepresented minority (URM) professionals in research institutions who primarily produce that evidence have remained abysmally low for decades. This unique study of URM university professors assesses factors—vocational strain, role overload, discrimination, coping strategies—that contribute to health and well‐being, research productivity, and ultimately their retention in high impact research positions. We administered a web‐based survey assessing demographics, workplace stressors, perceived discrimination, life events, coping strategies, and physical and depressive symptoms. Study participants include 404 faculty of whom 254 are African Americans, 99 are Mexican Americans, and 51 are Puerto Ricans. Hierarchical regression analyses were employed to assess the associations between workplace stress, coping strategies, and symptoms. Results show that perceived discrimination, vocational strain, role overload, and life events directly affected physical symptoms, with self‐care (p < 0.001) moderating these effects. Vocational strain and life events had direct effects on depressive symptoms with self‐care (p < 0.05) and social support (p < 0.001) moderating these effects. Findings inform health care providers and university leaders about work stress and health conditions that may explain early morbidity and premature departures of URM faculty, and proffer institutional interventions to retain these faculty.

Are we failing female and racialized academics? A Canadian national survey examining the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on tenure and tenure‐track faculty

“…Reasons for these pandemic‐related structural inequities range from closure of schools, summer camps, and daycares, placing increased burden on the primary caregiver, which is predominantly mothers (Lutter & Schröder, 2020 ). This crisis is also experienced more strongly among racialized individuals who are often considered victims of the intersectional/interlocking systems of oppression (Zambrana et al., 2021 ). The pandemic has caused higher rates of illness and greater illness severity among racialized individuals leading to heightened caregiving responsibilities and emotional exhaustion (Artiga et al., 2020 ).…”

“…Sex‐based, gender‐based, or race‐based differences impact the career advancement of faculty members and their mental health (Zambrana et al., 2021 ), stress level (Smith & Calasanti, 2005 ; Stanley, 2006 ), social relationship (Fritsch, 2015 ), job satisfaction, family life (McCutcheon & Morrison, 2016 ; Thun, 2020 ), and work–life balance (Denson et al., 2018 ; Rosa, 2021 ). Extant literature reported that female faculty are often affected by care‐giving, and domestic responsibilities (Misra et al., 2012 ).…”

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Burnout: a Systematic Review

“…Additionally, existing measures of burnout fail to account for critically relevant constructs that structure the lived experiences of UiM, specifically (but not limited to) racism, sexism and gender discrimination, tokenism, isolation or lack of inclusion, resilience, and social support [57][58][59][60]. Experiencing discrimination, microaggressions and implicit bias from students, colleagues, or the institution can result in isolation and feelings of not belonging [61,62]. Experiences of discrimination within academia can manifest as the devaluation of research interests and skill sets of underrepresented minority faculty [61].…”

Promoting Cancer Health Equity: A Qualitative Study of Mentee and Mentor Perspectives of a Training Program for Underrepresented Scholars in Cancer Health Disparities

“…First, as mentoring relationships continue to be used as a tactic to increase retention of minority and women scholars in scientific fields, the shared characteristics of successful relationships must be identified. Second, minority and women scholars report unique career experiences directly attributable to their sex/gender or race/ethnicity, such as being more likely to experience imposter syndrome [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ], discrimination (interpersonal and structural) in the scientific workforce [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ], and greater difficulty finding mentors than men [ 33 ]. Third, it is vital to understand what contributes to positive mentoring relationships across career ranks, as drop out becomes increasingly likely as minority and women progress in their career [ 10 ].…”