Melissa M. Sloan

Unfair Treatment in the Workplace and Worker Well-Being The Role of Coworker Support in a Service Work Environment

Recent attention has been given to the supportive relationships that may develop among coworkers, and researchers have produced evidence that coworker support can be beneficial for worker well-being. However, studies that have examined the role of social support at work in protecting workers from the detrimental effects of a poor work environment have reported mixed results. The effects of coworker support appear to depend on the type of stressor experienced. This research focuses on stress from exposure to mistreatment by others. This type of stress may be particularly harmful for interactive service workers as they must negotiate interactions with others of various statuses in the workplace. Drawing on data from a large survey of workers, the ability of perceived coworker support to help protect workers from the negative effects of mistreatment by supervisors, customers, and coworkers is examined. The results offer some support for the stress-buffering hypothesis. Although being treated unfairly by others in the workplace is associated with low levels of job satisfaction and high levels of psychological distress, workers who report supportive coworker relationships appear to be protected from some of the negative effects of mistreatment.

The "Real Self" and Inauthenticity: The Importance of Self-Concept Anchorage for Emotional Experiences in the Workplace*

I examine the utility of self-concept anchorage (as described by Turner 1976) in the analysis of inauthenticity in the workplace. As controlling internally felt emotion may distance the worker from her true feelings or true self, the management of emotion in the workplace can produce feelings of inauthenticity in the worker. This relationship has been demonstrated in previous research. However, as noted by some researchers, the relationship between emotion management and inauthenticity assumes that workers experience spontaneous, unmanaged emotions as representative of their true self (an impulsive orientation to emotion). I analyze a workers self-concept orientation as a moderator of the relationship between emotion management in the workplace and feelings of inauthenticity. The results reveal the importance of considering self-concept anchorage in analyses of inauthenticity in the workplace; however, the effect appears at the level of emotional feeling rather than display.

Emotion management and workplace status: consequences for well-being

Although originally thought to be performed primarily in service occupations, emotion management is important in many types of work. Since emotion management has been linked to psychological consequences, it is important to identify the conditions under which workers manage their emotions and when and how managing emotions has negative effects. In this paper, the antecedents and consequences of emotion management in the workplace are investigated using survey data from respondents working in several jobs for an American University. The findings indicate that the amount of emotion management a worker performs depends on the workers status within the workplace. In addition, managing emotions at work is psychologically distressing for workers when it increases feelings of estrangement from their true selves and real feelings.

Role Occupancy, Quality, and Psychological Distress Among Caucasian and African American Women

This article presents a study that examined the relationship between involvement in multiple roles and psychological distress among 380 Caucasian and African American women aged 18—60, focusing on women’s roles as paid workers, wives, and mothers. The quality of the mother role was significantly associated with psychological distress, while role occupancy and role quantity were not. Furthermore, the African American and white women appeared to be affected similarly by the quality of their experience in the mother role.

The International AIDS Questionnaire- English Version (IAQ-E): Assessing the validity and reliability

Abstract In order to address HIV infection among college students, a comprehensive measure is needed that can be used with samples from culturally diverse populations. Therefore, this paper assessed the reliability and validity of an HIV/AIDS questionnaire that measures fours dimensions of HIV/AIDS awareness—factual knowledge, prejudice, personal risk, and misconceptions about HIV transmission, and will enable cross-cultural research. The International AIDS Questionnaire—Chinese Version (IAQ-C) was developed and validated by Davis, Tang, Chan, and Noel (1999) for use with Chinese populations. In this study, the validity and reliability of the International AIDS Questionnaire—English Version (IQA-E) was assessed on a sample of English-speaking college students from the United States (N = 200) and Australia (N = 74). The results of the CFA supported the four-factor model, and the normative data show patterns similar to previous research. The total IAQ-E had a high internal consistency (Cronbachs alpha = 0.88). The Cronbachs alphas for the sub-scales were 0.87 (myths), 0.81 (attitudes), 0.66 (personal risk), and 0.40 (facts). A 2-week test-retest reliability study on a sub-sample of 32 students revealed a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient of 0.882 (p < 0.001). This instrument provides a valid and reliable comprehensive measure of HIV/AIDS for use with English-speaking samples.

Counting on Coworkers Race, Social Support, and Emotional Experiences on the Job

Recent research suggests that supportive relationships between coworkers benefit worker well-being. Less is known about the distribution of social support among different groups of workers. In this article, we use data from a random sample of state employees to examine whether black and white workers differ in the number of ties they have to coworkers, the quality of these ties, and the effects of social support on workplace emotional experiences. Our findings suggest that compared to their white counterparts, African Americans are disadvantaged in terms of workplace social ties and perceived coworker support. Race differences in job characteristics do not explain these differences; however, there is some evidence that the racial composition of the workplace may influence the formation of workplace social ties. In addition, both black and white workers experience similar emotional benefits of social support.

The Consequences of Emotional Labor for Public Sector Workers and the Mitigating Role of Self-Efficacy

Emotional labor that requires workers to suppress their truly felt emotions and create a fake emotional display has negative consequences for workers including psychological distress and lowered job satisfaction. This type of emotional labor, called surface acting, is often necessary in public service work. In an effort to identify ways to reduce the harmful effects of emotional labor for workers, this research further specifies the relationship between emotional labor and worker well-being using data from a large sample of public service workers working in a variety of occupations (n = 1,395). The analyses test a mediator and moderators of the relationship between emotional labor and worker well-being. The findings suggest that surface acting emotional labor is harmful to workers because it increases feelings of self-estrangement. In addition, a worker’s sense of self-efficacy in emotional labor performance is shown to reduce the negative effects of surface acting.

HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Sexual Activity, and Safer Sex Practices Among Female Students in Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States

Early in the epidemic, HIV infection and AIDS were rarely diagnosed in women. Today, the HIV/AIDS epidemic represents a growing and persistent health threat to women, especially young women. The purpose of the current study was to conduct an international study with female undergraduate college students to assess knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS, current and future sexual behaviors, and condom use self-efficacy. Participants included several convenience samples of female undergraduate college students from three public universities in the southern region of the United States (n = 112), a large public university in Australia (n = 66), and a public university in Hong Kong (n = 93). This research study utilizes a quantitative survey research design. Seventy-seven percent of American women and 66% of Australian women were sexually active compared with only 21% of Chinese women (χ2 = 67.74, p < .001). Of the sexually active women, 86% of Australian women reported regular use of safer sex practices during the past year compared with 69% of American women and 20% of Chinese women (χ2 = 8.9, p < .05). Although the sample as a whole scored generally high on HIV/AIDS awareness, it is not reflected in safe sex practices or intentions for future safe sex practices. Future studies should focus on further understanding the social, cultural, and psychological factors that hamper safe sex practices among this population as well as successful intervention strategies to overcome these barriers.

The status of race in public sector work: Implications for emotion management and job satisfaction

ABSTRACT African Americans consistently report lower levels of job satisfaction relative to whites. Using survey data from 1,456 public service employees, we examine whether racial disparities in job satisfaction are related to how African Americans and whites manage their emotions while at work. We contend that race acts as a master status within the workplace that locates African Americans in a subordinate social position to whites and may contribute to greater emotion management effort and greater work-related consequences. The results indicate that, together with traditional indicators of job satisfaction, extensive emotion management efforts of African Americans explain their lower levels of job satisfaction relative to whites.

Environmental Concern in the United States and China: The Influence of Measurement in National Context

We compare environmental concern between people in the United States and China by analyzing two General Social Surveys carried out in 2010. The two surveys have the same questions about the environment that have been answered by national probability samples of respondents from each country. This study serves as a starting point to understand variation in environmental concern between these two countries that have major global environmental impacts. Our hypotheses draw on the measurement hypothesis and the theory of planned behavior. We found the Chinese report higher environmental concern when measured as environmental sacrifice and perceived dangerousness, whereas the Americans reported a greater frequency of pro-environmental behaviors. Results from structural equation modeling show that the connections between sociodemographic predictors and environmental concern vary depending on the dimension of environmental concern being examined. We discuss these findings in the context of existing literature and factors unique to each country.