Top

BMC Public Health

Published in:

Open Access 01-12-2024 | Research

Sexual harassment and implicit gender-career biases negatively impact women’s life expectancy in the US: a state-level analysis, 2011–2019

Authors: George B. Cunningham, Pamela Wicker

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2024

Abstract

Background

Despite some gains, women continue to have less access to work and poorer experiences in the workplace, relative to men. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among women’s life expectancy and two work-related factors, sexual harassment and gender-career biases.

Method

We examined the associations at the state level of analysis (and District of Columbia) in the US from 2011 to 2019 (n = 459) using archival data from various sources. Measures of the ratio of population to primary health providers, year, the percent of adults who are uninsured, the percent of residents aged 65 or older, and percent of residents who are Non-Hispanic White all served as controls.

Results

Results of linear regression models showed that, after accounting for the controls, sexual harassment and gender-career biases among people in the state held significant, negative associations with women’s life expectancy.

Conclusion

The study contributes to the small but growing literature showing that negative workplace experiences and bias against women in the workplace negatively impact women’s health.

Cunningham GB, Diversity. Equity and inclusion at work. 1st ed. New York, NY: Routledge; 2024.

Catalyst C. 2023 [cited 2023 Jan 24]. Women CEOs of the S&P 500 (List). https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-ceos-of-the-sp-500/.

Catalyst C. 2022 [cited 2023 Jan 25]. Women in the US Workforce. https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-the-workforce-united-states/.

Blau FD, Kahn LM. The gender wage gap: extent, trends, and explanations. J Econ Lit. 2017;55(3):789–865.CrossRef

Morgenroth T, Kirby TA, Ryan MK, Sudkämper A. The who, when, and why of the glass cliff phenomenon: a meta-analysis of appointments to precarious leadership positions. Psychol Bull. 2020;146(9):797–829.CrossRefPubMed

Wicker P, Cunningham GB, Fields D. Head coach changes in women’s college soccer: an investigation of women coaches through the lenses of gender stereotypes and the glass cliff. Sex Roles. 2019;81(11):797–807.CrossRef

Rudman LA, Phelan JE. Backlash effects for disconfirming gender stereotypes in organizations. Res Organ Behav. 2008;28:61–79. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191308508000051.

Hideg I, Shen W. Why still so few? A theoretical model of the role of benevolent sexism and career support in the continued underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. J Leadersh Organ Stud. 2019;26(3):287–303.CrossRef

Miner KN, Cortina LM. Observed Workplace Incivility toward Women, Perceptions of Interpersonal Injustice, and Observer Occupational Well-Being: Differential Effects for Gender of the Observer. Front Psychol. 2016;7. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00482.

10.

Hackett RA, Steptoe A, Jackson SE. Sex discrimination and mental health in women: a prospective analysis. Health Psychol. 2019;38(11):1014–24.CrossRefPubMed

11.

Samnani AK, Salamon SD, Singh P. Negative Affect and Counterproductive Workplace Behavior: The Moderating Role of Moral Disengagement and Gender. Journal of Business Ethics. 2014;119(2):235–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1635-0.

12.

Brands RA, Fernandez-Mateo I. Leaning out: how negative recruitment experiences shape women’s decisions to compete for executive roles. Adm Sci Q. 2017;62(3):405–42.CrossRef

13.

Mölders S, Brosi P, Spörrle M, Welpe IM. The Effect of Top Management Trustworthiness on Turnover Intentions via Negative Emotions: The Moderating Role of Gender. Journal of Business Ethics. 2019;156(4):957–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3600-9.

14.

Kachi Y, Inoue A, Eguchi H, Kawakami N, Shimazu A, Tsutsumi A. Occupational stress and the risk of turnover: a large prospective cohort study of employees in Japan. BMC Public Health. 2020;20(1):174. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8289-5.

15.

Farley S, Mokhtar D, Ng K, Niven K. What influences the relationship between workplace bullying and employee well-being? A systematic review of moderators. Work Stress. 2023;37(3):345–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2023.2169968.

16.

Rowe SG, Stewart MT, Van Horne S, Pierre C, Wang H, Manukyan M et al. Mistreatment Experiences, Protective Workplace Systems, and Occupational Distress in Physicians. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(5):e2210768–e2210768. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.10768.

17.

Raj A, Chatterji S, Johns NE, Yore J, Dey AK, Williams DR. The associations of everyday and major discrimination exposure with violence and poor mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Soc Sci Med. 2023;318:115620. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622009261.

18.

Payne BK, Vuletich HA, Lundberg KB. The bias of crowds: how implicit bias bridges personal and systemic prejudice. Psychol Inq. 2017;28(4):233–48.CrossRef

19.

Payne BK, Vuletich HA, Brown-Iannuzzi JL. Historical roots of implicit bias in slavery. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2019;116(24):11693–8.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

20.

Sitzmann T, Campbell EM. The Hidden Cost of Prayer: Religiosity and the Gender Wage Gap. Academy of Management Journal. 2020;64(4):1016–48. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.1254.

21.

Lupien SJ, McEwen BS, Gunnar MR, Heim C. Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009;10(6):434–45. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2639.

22.

Oude Voshaar RC, Aprahamian I, Borges MK, van den Brink RHS, Marijnissen RM, Hoogendijk EO et al. Excess mortality in depressive and anxiety disorders: The Lifelines Cohort Study. European Psychiatry. 2021/08/31. 2021;64(1):e54. https://www.cambridge.org/core/article/excess-mortality-in-depressive-and-anxiety-disorders-the-lifelines-cohort-study/6A320B87B7DE5D6F38982EFE31212CBF.

23.

Braveman P, Gottlieb L. The Social Determinants of Health: It’s Time to Consider the Causes of the Causes. Public Health Reports. 2014;129(1_suppl2):19–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549141291S206.

24.

Braveman P, Egerter S, Williams DR. The Social Determinants of Health: Coming of Age. Annu Rev Public Health. 2011;32(1):381–98. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031210-101218.

25.

Nishii LH. The Benefits of Climate for Inclusion for Gender-Diverse Groups. Academy of Management Journal. 2012;56(6):1754–74. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.0823.

26.

Nishii LH, Leroy H. A multi-level framework of inclusive leadership in Organizations. Group & Organization Management. Volume 47. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications Sage CA; 2022. pp. 683–722.

27.

Snyder JE, Upton RD, Hassett TC, Lee H, Nouri Z, Dill M. Black Representation in the Primary Care Physician Workforce and Its Association With Population Life Expectancy and Mortality Rates in the US. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(4):e236687–e236687. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.6687.

28.

Asri AK, Yeh CH, Chang HT, Lee HY, Lung SCC, Spengler JD et al. Greenspace related to bipolar disorder in Taiwan: Quantitative benefits of saving DALY loss and increasing income. Health Place. 2023;83:103097. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135382922300134X.

29.

Cunningham GB, Wicker P, McCullough BP. Pollution, health, and the moderating role of physical activity opportunities. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(17):6272.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

30.

Ganster DC, Rosen CC. Work Stress and Employee Health: A Multidisciplinary Review. J Manage. 2013;39(5):1085–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206313475815.

31.

Selye H. Stress and Disease. Science (1979). 1955;122(3171):625–31. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.122.3171.625.

32.

Follmer KB, Follmer DJ. Longitudinal relations between workplace mistreatment and engagement– The role of suicidal ideation among employees with mood disorders. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process. 2021;162:206–17. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597820304210.

33.

Beauregard TA, Booth JE, Whiley LA. Transgender Employees: Workplace Impacts on Health and Well-Being. In: Hassard J, Torres LD, editors. Aligning Perspectives in Gender Mainstreaming: Gender, Health, Safety, and Wellbeing. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2021. pp. 177–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53269-7_10.

34.

Suggala S, Thomas S, Kureshi S. Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth. In: Dhiman S, editor. The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2020. pp. 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02470-3_30-1.

35.

Burch KA, Barnes-Farrell JL, Sorensen MB. Examining the Relationship between Experienced Workplace Incivility and Aggressive Driving Behaviors on the Work-to-Home Commute. J Bus Psychol. 2023;38(2):283–303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-023-09873-z.

36.

Hood CM, Gennuso KP, Swain GR, Catlin BB. County Health Rankings: Relationships Between Determinant Factors and Health Outcomes. Am J Prev Med. 2016;50(2):129–35. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379715005140.

37.

Miner KN, Diaz I, Wooderson RL, McDonald JN, Smittick AL, Lomeli LC. A workplace incivility roadmap: identifying theoretical speedbumps and alternative routes for future research. J Occup Health Psychol. 2018;23(3):320–37.CrossRefPubMed

38.

Smittick AL, Miner KN, Cunningham GB. The I in team: Coach incivility, coach gender, and team performance in women’s basketball teams. Sport Manage Rev. 2019;22(3):419–33.CrossRef

39.

Goetz SJ, Davlasheridze M, Han Y. County-Level Determinants of Mental Health, 2002–2008. Soc Indic Res. 2015;124(2):657–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0792-6.

40.

Aizer A. The gender wage gap and domestic violence. Am Econ Rev. 2010;100(4):1847–59.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

41.

Berdahl JL. Harassment Based on Sex: Protecting Social Status in the Context of Gender Hierarchy. Academy of Management Review. 2007;32(2):641–58. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2007.24351879.

42.

Fitzgerald LF, Gelfand MJ, Drasgow F. Measuring Sexual Harassment: Theoretical and Psychometric Advances. Basic Appl Soc Psych. 1995;17(4):425–45. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp1704_2.

43.

Gelfand MJ, Fitzgerald LF, Drasgow F. The Structure of Sexual Harassment: A Confirmatory Analysis across Cultures and Settings. J Vocat Behav. 1995;47(2):164–77. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879185710330.

44.

Cortina LM, Areguin MA. Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. 2021;8(1):285–309. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-055606.

45.

O’Neil A, Sojo V, Fileborn B, Scovelle AJ, Milner A. The #MeToo movement: an opportunity in public health? The Lancet. 2018;391(10140):2587–9. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673618309917.

46.

King K, Stohr MK, Kelley L, Vazquez S, Smith-Daniels S, Uhlenkott R. They said: an analysis of state level sexual and gender harassment data. Criminal Justice Studies. 2009;22(3):281–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786010903167021.

47.

Cortina LM, Wasti SA. Profiles in coping: responses to sexual harassment across persons, organizations, and cultures. J Appl Psychol. 2005;90(1):182–92.CrossRefPubMed

48.

Willie TC, Kershaw TS. An ecological analysis of gender inequality and intimate partner violence in the United States. Prev Med (Baltim). 2019;118:257–63. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743518303384.

49.

Hatzenbuehler ML, Prins SJ, Flake M, Philbin M, Frazer MS, Hagen D et al. Immigration policies and mental health morbidity among Latinos: A state-level analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2017;174:169–78. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616306591.

50.

Dovidio JF, Hewstone M, Glick P, Esses VM. Prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination: theoretical and empirical overview. In: Dovidio JF, Hewstone M, Glick P, Esses VM, editors. The SAGE handbook of prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping. London, UK: Sage; 2010. pp. 3–28.CrossRef

51.

Vuletich HA, Payne BK. Stability and change in implicit bias. Psychol Sci. 2019;30(6):854–62.CrossRefPubMed

52.

Dovidio JF, Kawakami K, Gaertner SL. Implicit and explicit prejudice and interracial interaction. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2002;82(1):62–8.CrossRefPubMed

53.

Hahn A, Judd CM, Hirsh HK, Blair IV. Awareness of implicit attitudes. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2014;143(3):1369–92.CrossRefPubMed

54.

Hahn A, Gawronski B. Facing one’s implicit biases: from awareness to acknowledgment. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2019;116(5):769–94.CrossRefPubMed

55.

Cunningham GB, Wigfall LT. Race, explicit racial attitudes, implicit racial attitudes, and COVID-19 cases and deaths: an analysis of counties in the United States. PLoS ONE. 2020;15(11 November).

56.

Stelter M, Essien I, Sander C, Degner J. Racial Bias in Police Traffic Stops: White Residents’ County-Level Prejudice and Stereotypes Are Related to Disproportionate Stopping of Black Drivers. Psychol Sci. 2022;33(4):483–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211051272.

57.

Riddle T, Sinclair S. Racial disparities in school-based disciplinary actions are associated with county-level rates of racial bias. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2019;116(17):8255–60.

58.

Nosek BA, Smyth FL, Sriram N, Lindner NM, Devos T, Ayala A et al. National differences in gender–science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2009;106(26):10593–7.

59.

Cunningham GB, Nite C. LGBT diversity and inclusion, community characteristics, and success. J Sport Manage. 2020;34(6):533–41.CrossRef

60.

Shin YJ, Lee ES, Seo Y. Does Traditional Stereotyping of Career as Male Affect College Women’s, but Not College Men’s, Career Decision Self-Efficacy and Ultimately Their Career Adaptability? Sex Roles. 2019;81(1):74–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0976-7.

61.

Salles A, Awad M, Goldin L, Krus K, Lee JV, Schwabe MT et al. Estimating Implicit and Explicit Gender Bias Among Health Care Professionals and Surgeons. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(7):e196545–e196545. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.6545.

62.

Aarntzen L, Derks B, van Steenbergen E, van der Lippe T. When work–family guilt becomes a women’s issue: Internalized gender stereotypes predict high guilt in working mothers but low guilt in working fathers. British Journal of Social Psychology. 2023;62(1):12–29. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12575.

63.

Kalra P, Boukes M. Curbing Journalistic Gender Bias: How Activating Awareness of Gender Bias in Indian Journalists Affects Their Reporting. Journalism Practice. 2021;15(5):651–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1755344.

64.

Teelken C, Taminiau Y, Rosenmöller C. Career mobility from associate to full professor in academia: micro-political practices and implicit gender stereotypes. Studies in Higher Education. 2021;46(4):836–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1655725.

65.

VizHub. GBD Results. 2022 [cited 2023 Sep 20]. https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results/.

66.

US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Sexual Harassment Changes by State & Gender FY 1997–2021. 2022 [cited 2023 Sep 20]. https://www.eeoc.gov/data/eeoc-sexual-harassment-charges-state-gender-fy-1997-fy-2021.

67.

Xu FK, Nosek BA, Greenwald AG, Ratliff K, Bar-Anan Y, Umansky E et al. Project Implicit Demo Website Datasets. 2023 [cited 2023 Sep 20]. https://osf.io/y9hiq/.

68.

Garrison KM, Cunningham GB. State-Level Politics and Bias Predict Transgender Athlete Bans. Journal of Sport Management. 2023;1–13. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jsm/aop/article-10.1123-jsm.2023-0137/article-10.1123-jsm.2023-0137.xml.

69.

Chin MJ, Quinn DM, Dhaliwal TK, Lovison VS. Bias in the Air: A Nationwide Exploration of Teachers’ Implicit Racial Attitudes, Aggregate Bias, and Student Outcomes. Educational Researcher. 2020;49(8):566–78. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20937240.

70.

Greenwald AG, McGhee DE, Schwartz JLK. Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998;74(6).

71.

Greenwald AG, Poehlman TA, Uhlmann EL, Banaji MR. Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: III. Meta-analysis of predictive validity. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2009;97(1):17–41.CrossRefPubMed

72.

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. 2023 [cited 2023 Dec 21]. Rankings Data & Documentation. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/explore-health-rankings/rankings-data-documentation.

73.

Basu S, Phillips RS, Berkowitz SA, Landon BE, Bitton A, Phillips RL. Estimated Effect on Life Expectancy of Alleviating Primary Care Shortages in the United States. Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(7):920–6. https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-7381.

74.

Shi L. The relationship between primary care and life chances. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 1992;3(2):321–35.CrossRefPubMed

75.

Gong G, Phillips SG, Hudson C, Curti D, Philips BU, Higher. US Rural Mortality Rates Linked To Socioeconomic Status, Physician Shortages, And Lack Of Health Insurance. Health Aff. 2019;38(12):2003–10. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00722.

76.

Woolhandler S, Himmelstein DU. The Relationship of Health Insurance and Mortality: Is Lack of Insurance Deadly? Ann Intern Med. 2017;167(6):424–31. https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/abs/https://doi.org/10.7326/M17-1403.

77.

Aburto JM, Villavicencio F, Basellini U, Kjærgaard S, Vaupel JW. Dynamics of life expectancy and life span equality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2020;117(10):5250–9. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915884117.

78.

Dwyer-Lindgren L, Bertozzi-Villa A, Stubbs RW, Morozoff C, Mackenbach JP, van Lenthe FJ et al. Inequalities in Life Expectancy Among US Counties, 1980 to 2014: Temporal Trends and Key Drivers. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(7):1003–11. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.0918.

79.

Johnson CO, Boon-Dooley AS, DeCleene NK, Henny KF, Blacker BF, Anderson JA et al. Life Expectancy for White, Black, and Hispanic Race/Ethnicity in U.S. States: Trends and Disparities, 1990 to 2019. Ann Intern Med. 2022;175(8):1057–64. https://doi.org/10.7326/M21-3956.

80.

Hair JF, Babin BJ, Anderson RE, Black WC. Multivariate Data Analysis. 8th ed. Andover: Cengage; 2018.

81.

Leitner JB, Hehman E, Ayduk O, Mendoza-Denton R. Blacks’ death rate due to circulatory diseases is positively related to whites’ explicit racial bias: a nationwide investigation using project implicit. Psychol Sci. 2016;27(10):1299–311.CrossRefPubMed

82.

Leitner JB, Hehman E, Ayduk O, Mendoza-Denton R. Racial bias is associated with ingroup death rate for blacks and whites: insights from Project Implicit. Soc Sci Med. 2016;170:220–7.CrossRef

83.

Dahl GB, Knepper MM. Why is workplace sexual harassment underreported? The value of outside options amid the threat of retaliation. National Bureau of Economic Research; 2021.

84.

Aguilar SJ, Baek C. Sexual harassment in academe is underreported, especially by students in the life and physical sciences. PLoS One. 2020;15(3):e0230312-. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230312.

85.

Cassino D, Besen-Cassino Y. Race, threat and workplace sexual harassment: The dynamics of harassment in the United States, 1997–2016. Gend Work Organ. 2019;26(9):1221–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12394.

Title: Sexual harassment and implicit gender-career biases negatively impact women’s life expectancy in the US: a state-level analysis, 2011–2019
Authors: George B. Cunningham
Pamela Wicker
Publication date: 01-12-2024
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18450-9

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Sexual harassment and implicit gender-career biases negatively impact women’s life expectancy in the US: a state-level analysis, 2011–2019

Abstract

Background

Method

Results

Conclusion

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Method

Results

Conclusion

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 1/2024

Design of a bilingual (FR-UR) website on the sensitive topic of sexual and mental health with Urdu speakers in a Parisian suburb: a qualitative study

Using propensity score matching analysis to compare between cardiometabolic risk factors and physical activity type in Korean adults: findings from a nationwide population-based survey

Positive and negative aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic among a diverse sample of US adults: an exploratory mixed-methods analysis of online survey data

Trends of physical activity and recreational screen time among Chinese children and adolescents: a national study from 2017 to 2019

Selective under-representation of Pacific peoples in population estimates for health indicator measurements in Aotearoa New Zealand misinforms policy making

Why more successful? An analysis of participants’ self-monitoring data in an online weight loss intervention