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University Microfilms International A Belt & Howell Information Com pany 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 8013701 Minority stress, coping and moderating effects of social support Sridhar, Sandhya, Ph.D. The Ohio St&te University, 1080 UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Artx)r,MI48106 MINORITY STRESS, COPING AND MODERATING EFFECTS OF SOCIAL SUPPORT DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State U niversity By Sandhya Sridhar, B. A. (Hons.), M. A. The Ohio State University 1989 Dissertation Committee Approved By Dr. Janlna C. Latack Dr. H. Randolph Bobbitt, Jr. Dr. David Greenberger Professor Janina C. Latack Advisor, Faculty of Management and Human Resources DEDICATION TO My Parents Aal and Baba ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Doctoral dissertation Is essentially an Intellectually stimulating, personally gratifying , though occasionally a trying experience. Upon completion of thl3 challenging endeavor, It Is time to pause and acknowledge my debt of gratitude to those who made this accomplishment possible. I am deeply Indebted to Professor Janina Latack, my dissertation advisor. Her support, encouragement, and professional guidance proved to be of tremendous value in the pursuit of research. I am grateful to Professors H. Randolph Bobbitt, Jr. and David Greenberger, the members of my advisory committee for their invaluable time, expertise and advice. I am thankful to Dr, H. R. Unnava, Il-Jae Jung, Norris Krueger, and Nell Smith for providing useful information and for letting me bounce off my ideas. I would also like to thank Meera Bhat, Manoj Malhotra, Narasimha Mur thy, Chltra Srlram and T. P. Subramanlam who helped me in audiotaping and videotaping the group discussions. I thank Manoj Malhotra and Maya Dabholkar for their help with the procedural details during the closing phases of dissertation. iii Completing the dissertation became the top priority of my life during the last few years. It meant rearranging all other priorities, for me and for my family. I could not have accomplished this end without the support of my husband, fi. S. Sridhar. He gets the lion's share of my heartfelt gratitude. I would also like to thank Paayal, our little daughter who always cheered me up and helped me regain the proper perspective. I owe my debt of gratitude to my deceased parents, especially to my father, who would have been so proud to see this day. y.iTA 1969 B. A. (Hons), University of Bombay, Psychology 1971 M. A., University of Bombay Industrial Psychology 1972-1973 Research Fellow, National Institute of Bank Management, Bombay, India 1973-1974 Lecturer, S. N. D. T. University, Bombay India 1974-1975 Research Assistant, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India 1975-1976 Research Assistant, Lala Lajpatrai Institute of Management, Bombay, India 1976-1980 Selection Psychologist, Union Bank of India, Bombay, India 1982-1987 Graduate Teaching Associate, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1988-present Lecturer, Department of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 1988-present Lecturer, Quality and Productivity Management Program, Department of Continuing Education, Marian College, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Business Administration: Organizational Behavior Second Field: Labor and Human Resource Management V TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................. ill VITA............................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................... lx LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................ x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................ Importance of this Study......... Research Questions.................... Research Method......................... An Overview................................. 2. A LITERATURE REVIEW............. Introduction.................................. Social Influence Literature: Conformity and Nonconformity Minority Influence........................................................... 15 Stress and Coping .......................................................... 19 What is Stress? ........................................................ 21 Minority Stress........................................................ 24 Racial-Ethnic and Gender Minorities................................................... 25 Coping................................................................................... 32 Conformity, Nonconformity and Coping........................................................................... 36 v i Social Support..................................................................... 43 Conceptualizations of Social Support................... 47 Functional Social Support....................................... 48 Structural Social Support....................................... 51 How Does Social Support Relate to Stress ? .............. 54 The Variables and Hypotheses..................................... 56 3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY....................... 71 Design ..................................................... 71 Participants........................................................................ 72 Development of Research Materials.......................... 73 Procedure............................................................................ 77 Data Analysis.................................................................. 86 Scales: Description and Psychometric Properties .................................. 92 4. RESULTS.............................................................................. 100 Preliminary Analyses..................................................... 100 Manipulation Checks........................................................ 101 Hypothesis Tests ................................................................ 106 Additional Analyses.......................................................... 118 5. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS....................................... 121 Opinion Minority and Perceptions of Stress.................................................................................... 122 Perception of Stress and Coping Behavior............. 126 vii Social Support as a Moderator of Minority S tress.................................................................................... 130 Implications for Theory.................................................. 131 Implications for Practice.................................................. 135 6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .................................................. 139 Limitations......................................................................... 141 Future Research ................................................................ 144 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1 Assignment of Participants to Minority and Majority Conditions.......................................... 79 2 Assignment of Participants to Conditions of Social Support................................. 84 3 Psychometric Properties and Intercorrelations of the Scales............................ 93 4 Factor Loadings from Varlmax Rotation for Coping B ehaviors............................................... 99 5 Mean Values of Perceived Stress, Perceived Social Support and Coping Behaviors for Female and Male Participants...........................102 6 Mean Values of Perceived Stress, Perceived Social Support and Coping Behaviors for the Participants Who Chose Lenient and Severe Punishment................................................... 103 7 Results of Frequency Distribution and Chi-square Test for social support ...................... 105 8 Mean Values of Perceived Stress, Perceived Social Support and Coping Behaviors for Majority and Minority Participants.............