Talent Show
Do Diversity Awards Discourage Applicants From Marginalized Groups From Pursuing More Lucrative Opportunities?
Adriana Germano et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Four studies reveal that offering diversity awards (i.e., awards for applicants from marginalized groups) has unintentionally negative implications for equity. Across the four studies, applicants from marginalized groups were more likely to select the more lucrative award when two unrestricted awards were offered (Study 1: adults from racial groups underrepresented in U.S. colleges who were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, N = 168; Studies 2–4: college women, N range = 152–628). However, the presence of a less lucrative diversity award caused applicants to apply for and prioritize diversity awards over more lucrative unrestricted awards. Fit, or how much applicants felt the award was for someone like them, mediated their increased likelihood of applying for diversity awards over unrestricted awards. These findings suggest that diversity awards may inadvertently siphon applicants from marginalized groups out of application pools for unrestricted awards. Greater examination of unrestricted awards is needed to increase their attractiveness and fit, especially in instances when diversity awards are also offered.
Do special education recommendations differ for Asian American and White American students?
Jiaxin Jessie Wang, Liz Redford & Kate Ratliff
Social Psychology of Education, August 2021, Pages 1065–1083
Abstract:
Asian American students are underrepresented in special education, a state of affairs that threatens their access to academic resources. We propose that student race may influence educators’ likelihood of recommending them for special education services. In two studies, participants working in the field of education (total N = 1195) read a realistic, hypothetical observational behavioral report that described a struggling student. The student’s race (White or Asian) and area of difficulty (Reading or Math) were manipulated between subjects. Regardless of subject area, participants were less likely to recommend Asian American than White American students for learning disability evaluation. We speculate that the difference is based on stereotypes that Asian American students are too academically successful to struggle. Such lack of recommendation, if it occurs in the classroom, could potentially contribute to the underrepresentation of Asian American students in special education.
Testosterone and socioeconomic position: Mendelian randomization in 306,248 men and women in UK Biobank
Sean Harrison et al.
Science Advances, July 2021
Abstract:
Men with more advantaged socioeconomic position (SEP) have been observed to have higher levels of testosterone. It is unclear whether these associations arise because testosterone has a causal impact on SEP. In 306,248 participants of UK Biobank, we performed sex-stratified genome-wide association analysis to identify genetic variants associated with testosterone. Using the identified variants, we performed Mendelian randomization analysis of the influence of testosterone on socioeconomic position, including income, employment status, neighborhood-level deprivation, and educational qualifications; on health, including self-rated health and body mass index; and on risk-taking behavior. We found little evidence that testosterone affected socioeconomic position, health, or risk-taking. Our results therefore suggest that it is unlikely that testosterone meaningfully affects these outcomes in men or women. Differences between Mendelian randomization and multivariable-adjusted estimates suggest that previously reported associations with socioeconomic position and health may be due to residual confounding or reverse causation.
Marginalized and Overlooked? Minoritized Groups and the Adoption of New Scientific Ideas
Wei Cheng & Bruce Weinberg
NBER Working Paper, August 2021
Abstract:
The rapid diffusion and use of new ideas are critical for advancing and realizing the value of innovation. This paper explores the impact of demographic characteristics of innovators and potential adopters on the adoption of important new scientific ideas through networks. Using rich, population-level data on biomedical researchers and their networks, natural language processing, and a novel two-way fixed effects strategy, we find that new ideas introduced by female scientists are under-utilized, which can be explained by two factors. First, female innovators are not as well-connected in networks; second, even at short network distances, researchers (especially men) are less likely to adopt women’s ideas. Ideas from underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities are also less widely used.
A Dynamic Framework for Earnings Inequality between Black and White Men
Chunhui Ren
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study conceptualizes earnings inequality between black and white men as a three-stage dynamic process: the pre-market human capital acquisition, the labor-market entry, and the longitudinal career progression. Based on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), this framework is put to an empirical test that leads to two major conclusions. First, overall patterns of black-white earnings inequality are shaped primarily at labor-market entry as opposed to developing within the labor market. Second, the longitudinal progression of earnings inequality exhibits distinctive trajectories across different pre-market groups. Less-educated black men face a wider earnings gap at labor-market entry, but the gap stays relatively stable over time. Highly educated black men face a narrower earnings gap at labor-market entry, but the gap widens over time. I attribute these patterns to the temporal-specific interplays between race and a series of labor-market mechanisms.
Is There a Glass Cliff in Municipal Management? Examining the Hiring and Departure of Women City Managers
Lang (Kate) Yang, Laura Connolly & Jennifer Connolly
George Washington University Working Paper, August 2021
Abstract:
Women are underrepresented in public sector leadership, including the field of city management. There are several explanations for what might prevent women from achieving gender parity in city management. We examine one such explanation - a “glass cliff” phenomenon whereby councils are more likely to hire women as city managers during crises, potentially setting women up for failure in the profession. Using original observational data on city managers in Florida, we test whether municipalities are more likely to hire women during times of fiscal stress and whether women are more likely than men to leave the position if municipal finances do not improve. Our results show that increasing budget deficits are associated with municipalities hiring women managers. Post-appointment, a lack of improvement in the deficit condition is associated with a higher probability of women, but not men, leaving the position. This suggests that a glass cliff in city management may be one important factor that prevents women from advancing within the field.
Disproportionate School Punishment and Significant Life Outcomes: A Prospective Analysis of Black Youths
Edith Chen et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study tested relationships between racial inequalities in the school system — specifically, the disproportionate punishment of Black students — and life outcomes for Black youths, along with moderating psychological factors. In an 18-year longitudinal study of 261 Black youths (ages 11–29), we investigated whether adult life outcomes varied as a function of adolescent self-control and academic achievement. We tested whether relationships were moderated by the racial climates of the high schools that youths attended, using administrative data on relative punishment rates of Black and White students. Among Black youths who attended schools that disproportionately punished Black students, high self-control in early adolescence presaged higher academic orientation in late adolescence, which in turn predicted higher educational attainment, higher income, and better mental health in adulthood. However, among these same youths, higher academic orientation forecasted higher adult insulin resistance, a key process in cardiometabolic disease. These findings suggest that achieving successes in life in the face of racial inequalities may come at a physical health cost for Black youths.
Credentials Matter, but Only for Men: Evidence from the S&P 500
Peter Cziraki & Adriana Robertson
University of Toronto Working Paper, July 2021
Abstract:
We study gender differences in the value of credentials in managerial labor markets. Exploiting quasi-random variation in S&P 500 index membership, we examine the careers of managers whose firms were "just included" on the index and compare them to the careers of managers of similar firms that were not included. We use within-firm variation in S&P 500 status for marginal firms and managers who joined a marginal firm before its addition to the index to obtain near-random assignment of S&P 500 experience. Men with experience at an S&P 500 firm obtain more subsequent independent directorships and executive roles at other S&P 500 firms, but not at non-S&P 500 firms. The increase is 12-42% relative to the average. Strikingly, we observe no such relationship for women. In fact, a woman with S&P 500 experience obtains fewer future executive positions at S&P 500 firms than a man without it. The incremental S&P 500 positions are only in industries that the manager has previously worked in, and not in other industries. The largest benefits accrue to managers with smaller personal networks. Careers of managers at "just included" and not included firms are not different before the former firms are added to the index. Our results suggest that receiving less credit for similar credentials poses an obstacle for women in the managerial labor market.
Women’s Safety Concerns and Academia: How Safety Concerns Can Create Opportunity Gaps
Sophie Trawalter et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present work documents the safety concerns of men and women in academia and how these concerns can create opportunity gaps. Across five samples including undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty (N = 1,812), women reported greater concerns about their safety than did men, and these concerns were associated with reduced work hours in libraries, offices, and/or labs afterhours. Additionally, although we were unable to manipulate safety concerns among women, in an experiment with men (N = 117), increasing safety concerns decreased willingness to use the library afterhours. Finally, in an archival study of swipe access data (N = 350,364 swipes), a crime event that made safety concerns salient for women was associated with a decreased likelihood that women worked in their office afterhours and a decreased likelihood that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics women worked in their labs later at night. Collectively, these data suggest that women’s safety concerns can restrict their work.
Women -- particularly underrepresented minority women -- and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance
Melis Muradoglu et al.
Journal of Educational Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Feeling like an impostor is common among successful individuals, but particularly among women and early-career professionals. Here, we investigated how gender and career-stage differences in impostor feelings vary as a function of the contexts that academics have to navigate. In particular, we focused on a powerful but underexplored contextual feature: the extent to which raw intellectual talent (i.e., “brilliance”) is prized in an academic field. We hypothesized that gender and career-stage differences in impostor feelings would be magnified in fields that value brilliance. We tested this hypothesis using the largest sample of academics that has been brought to bear on the impostor phenomenon to date, with over 4,000 academics recruited from nine research-intensive U.S. universities and representing more than 80 fields across the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and medicine. Consistent with our hypothesis, the more that success in a field was perceived to require brilliance, the more that women — especially women from racial/ethnic groups that are traditionally underrepresented in academia — and early-career academics felt like impostors. Impostor feelings were also related to a lower sense of belonging in a field and lower self-efficacy, highlighting the potential negative implications of the impostor phenomenon for academics’ long-term success and for the diversity of fields that value brilliance.
Can I belong in school and sports?: The intersectional value of athletic identity in high school and across the college transition
Gerald Higginbotham
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, forthcoming
Method: Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF), Study 1 (N = 1,011) employs a cross-sectional analysis of Wave 1 and Study 2 (N = 822) employs a longitudinal analysis of Waves 1–3 to test these hypotheses.
Results: Identifying with athletics in high school is found to afford sociocultural benefits for academically identified Black male, but not Black female, students in the short-term and longitudinally across the college transition. In high school, Black male students identified with both academics and athletics reported greater identification with other young Black men compared to those identified with academics only (Study 1). Longitudinally, identification with athletics in high school was positively associated with sociocultural adjustment in the first year of college (e.g., interdependent studying behaviors), explained through this increased identification with young Black men (Study 2).
My Fair Lady? Inferring Organizational Trust From the Mere Presence of Women in Leadership Roles
Mansi Joshi & Amanda Diekman
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
The history of male dominance in organizational hierarchy can leave a residue of mistrust in which women in particular do not expect fair treatment. The mere presence of a female leader relative to a male leader led perceivers to anticipate fairer treatment in that organization (Study 1) and greater projected salary and status (Study 2). This mere presence effect occurred uniquely through communal and not agentic affordances; these patterns emerged especially or only for women. Female leaders cued organizational trust in both male- and female-dominated industries (Study 3) and when they occupied different levels of the organizational hierarchy (Study 4). When information about organizational communal affordances is directly communicated, both female and male leaders signal trust (Study 5). The processes and practices of male-dominated organizational culture can leave a residue of mistrust, but viewing women in leadership is one beacon illuminating paths forward and upward.