Role of Institutional Climate on Underrepresented Faculty Perceptions and Decision Making in Use of Work–Family Policies

Castañeda, Mari; Zambrana, Ruth Enid; Marsh, Kris; Vega, William A.; Becerra, Rosina M.; Pérez, Debra Joy

doi:10.1111/fare.12159

Cited by 20 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…Family life outside the workplace bears weight in understanding vocational strains and overload. URM professionals often have larger families, more family obligations, a fear of using family leave policies, additional household time demands, and a ‘wealth gap’ that disallows the outsourcing of domestic services (Castañeda et al, 2015; Hamilton & Darity, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2020

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2020

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“…For most participants, economic strain was paramount in their lives as neither they nor their parents were financially secure enough to supplement financial resources outside of their own salaries and savings. Respondents reported frequently confronting economic and institutional social support hurdles that hinder the pursuit of balancing family, work, and personal selves (Castañeda et al, 2015). For example, work settings that provide leave for childbirth or illness frequently do not cover a full-semester salary.…”

Section: Outflow Of Resources: Commitments and Burden Of Family Of Or...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond role strain: Work–family sacrifice among underrepresented minority faculty

Zambrana

Hardaway

Neubauer

2022

J of Marriage and Family

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Objective This study describes the perceived work demands and family caregiving obligations associated with work–family life among URM faculty and the coping strategies used to negotiate the integration of roles. Background Past research on families focuses primarily on professional majority‐culture families and often fails to include traditionally and historically underrepresented minority (URM) families. The study of how URM professionals negotiate work and family obligations and economic and institutional constraints remains relatively absent in the family science discourse. Method In‐depth individual and group interviews (N = 58) were conducted with US‐born African American, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican faculty at research universities. Results The overarching theorizing anchor that grounded the themes was sacrifice. Three themes emerged: excessive work demands/role strain; commitments and caregiving obligations to family of origin and nuclear family; and few coping strategies and resources to maintain a balanced life. Conclusion This analysis offers insight into the multiple factors that affect the experiences of URM academics in their workplaces that deeply influence work roles and self‐care and its impact on family roles. These data fill a gap by applying alternative frameworks to explore the work–family nexus among racialized groups. Implications New research frontiers are offered to study the work–family nexus for URM faculty and how higher education can respond to alleviate excessive work demands and work–family life conflicts.

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“…This combination of scrutiny and underappreciation creates a unique set of challenges for faculty parents of color, potentially leading to heightened pressure to adhere to the ideal-worker norm, conceal family issues, and under-utilize family-friendly policies. Indeed, faculty members of color report concerns about using such policies ranging from worries about how their parenting responsibilities will be viewed to salary inequities making use of policies cost prohibitive (Castañeda et al, 2015). Along these lines, Settles et al (2019) found that one response of faculty of color to heightened scrutiny was to work even harder, taking on extra work to prove themselves.…”

Section: Race/ethnicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic parenthood: Navigating structure and culture in an elite occupation

Minnotte

2021

Sociology Compass

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Many contemporary workers struggle to manage paid work and family responsibilities, leading scholars to explore mechanisms contributing to conflict between these two domains. Such examinations often center on pinpointing specific factors that explain variation in work-family conflict, but these studies have less to say about how some occupational contexts create overwhelming demands for workers. In this article, I advocate for an approach that details the cultural and structural components of specific occupations. Building on scholarship about demanding jobs, I use academic parenthood as an illustrative case to demonstrate how certain occupational contexts are organized in ways that introduce challenges for caregiving. I then analyze how culture and structure jointly influence family-friendly policies in the university setting, along with comparative experiences across discipline, gender, and race/ethnicity. Next, I describe how academic parents in the face of constraints, make choices, show agency, and demonstrate resistance. I conclude by identifying promising areas for future research. K E Y W O R D S academic parents, demanding jobs, ideal-worker norm, parents and work, parental leave, work and familyThe boundaries between work and family have grown more permeable due to a number of changes, including increased labor-force participation rates of women and technological advances making it easier for work to be

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Role of Institutional Climate on Underrepresented Faculty Perceptions and Decision Making in Use of Work–Family Policies

Cited by 20 publications

References 40 publications

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

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

Beyond role strain: Work–family sacrifice among underrepresented minority faculty

Academic parenthood: Navigating structure and culture in an elite occupation

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