Page 303 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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Kessler and Neighbors (1986) wrote that "Since the late 1950s, when large-
scale surveys were first used to study the distribution of mental health
problems in the general population, it has been known that Blacks in the
United States have higher levels of psychological distress than Whites"
(p. 107). Indeed, their research, involving the analysis of data from eight
separate studies, showed that Blacks had higher levels of depressed mood
than Whites, and that race and income interactively predicted depressed
mood. The nature of the interaction was that the lower the level of income,
the stronger the relation between race and depression. Overall, these results
suggest that studies that assess the main effects of race on psychological
strain may yield underestimates of race effects and overestimates of SES
effects.
Racism, Stress, and Strain

There is clear and convincing evidence that members of various ethnic mi­
nority groups perceive unfair discrimination in various contexts, including
work organizations. In addition, there is a strong link between self-reported
levels of ethnic discrimination and stress. Moreover, research results are
consistent with the view that racism has effects on physical health and
psychological strain because it indirectly influences the socioeconomic at­
tainment of minority group members and directly affects environmental
conditions that influence health (Williams, 1999; Williams & Collins, 1995;
Williams & Williams-Morris, 2000). With regard to workplace discrimina­
tion, for example, results of a national survey by Joyner (2002) showed that
whereas personal workplace discrimination was reported by 28% of Blacks
and 22% of Hispanic respondents, only 13% of Whites reported such dis­
crimination. Also, with respect to the negative outcomes of discrimination,
research by Sanchez and Brock (1996) revealed that perceived discrimina­
tion was related to a host of negative outcomes, including stress, tension,
and dissatisfaction. Moreover, the results of 15 empirical studies reviewed
by Williams and Williams-Morris (2000) showed a clear relation between
experienced racial discrimination and psychological distress.

Availability of Stress Buffers

Interestingly, the lower the SES of individuals, the lesser the degree to
which they have access to social support and other factors that may serve
as buffers of stress (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1970; Kessler, 1979;
Kessler et al., 1985; Taylor et al.,1997; Williams & Rucker, 1996). Because of
this, relative to Whites, members of various minority groups (e.g., Blacks,
Native Americans) have fewer functional mechanisms for coping with