Research Mentoring and Scientist Identity: Insights from Undergraduates and their Mentors

Background Mentored research apprenticeships are a common feature of academic outreach programs that aim to promote diversity in science fields. The current study tests for links between three forms of mentoring (instrumental, socioemotional, and negative) and the degree to which undergraduates psychologically identify with science. Participants were 66 undergraduate-mentor dyads who worked together in a research apprenticeship. The undergraduate sample was predominantly composed of women, first-generation college students, and members of ethnic groups that are historically underrepresented in science. Results Findings illustrated that undergraduates who reported receiving more instrumental and socioemotional mentoring were higher in scientist identity. Further, mentors who reported engaging in higher levels of negative mentoring had undergraduates with lower scientist identity. Qualitative data from undergraduates’ mentors provided deeper insight into their motivation to become mentors and how they reason about conflict in their mentoring relationships. Conclusions Discussion highlights theoretical implications and details several methodological recommendations

Relative Deprivation and Working Women, 1978-79

This study was designed to apply the theory of relative deprivation to the situation of working women and to describe how women experience and express contentment or dissatisfaction with their working conditions. The study compared groups of housewives and employed women and men in high and low prestige occupations to assess felt deprivation and evaluate six hypothesized cognitive emotional preconditions for resentment or expressed discontent. The sample consisted of 405 adults aged 25 to 40 years living in the Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts. The National Opinion Research Center occupational rating system was used to select participants in high or low prestige occupations. Among the employed men and women in the sample, half were in high prestige and half in low prestige occupations, and these groups were evenly divided among individuals who were single, married but childless, and married with children. Housewives were categorized according to the prestige of their husbands' jobs. Each respondent was interviewed at home by a professional interviewer. (Data were collected and coded by ABT Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts.) The one-hour interview included demographic information, information about the job, questions about domestic arrangements and the division of labor at home, questions about attitudes toward the job situation of women, and Radloff's (1975) CES-D depression scale

Understanding affirmative action

Affirmative action is a controversial and often poorly understood policy. It is also a policy that has been widely studied by social scientists. In this review, we outline how affirmative action operates in employment and education settings and consider the major points of controversy. In addition, we detail the contributions of psychologists and other social scientists in helping to demonstrate why affirmative action is needed; how it can have unintended negative consequences; and how affirmative action programs can be most successful. We also review how psychologists have examined variations in people's attitudes toward affirmative action, in part as a means for testing different theories of social behavior

Mentoring Dilemmas: Developmental Relationships within Multicultural Organizations

Donald Gibson (with D.I. Cordova) is a contributing author, “Women’s and Men’s Role Models: The Importance of Exemplars.”, pp. 121-142

Research mentoring and scientist identity: insights from undergraduates and their mentors

Abstract Background Mentored research apprenticeships are a common feature of academic outreach programs that aim to promote diversity in science fields. The current study tests for links between three forms of mentoring (instrumental, socioemotional, and negative) and the degree to which undergraduates psychologically identify with science. Participants were 66 undergraduate-mentor dyads who worked together in a research apprenticeship. The undergraduate sample was predominantly composed of women, first-generation college students, and members of ethnic groups that are historically underrepresented in science. Results Findings illustrated that undergraduates who reported receiving more instrumental and socioemotional mentoring were higher in scientist identity. Further, mentors who reported engaging in higher levels of negative mentoring had undergraduates with lower scientist identity. Qualitative data from undergraduates’ mentors provided deeper insight into their motivation to become mentors and how they reason about conflict in their mentoring relationships. Conclusions Discussion highlights theoretical implications and details several methodological recommendations

Research mentoring and scientist identity: insights from undergraduates and their mentors.

BackgroundMentored research apprenticeships are a common feature of academic outreach programs that aim to promote diversity in science fields. The current study tests for links between three forms of mentoring (instrumental, socioemotional, and negative) and the degree to which undergraduates psychologically identify with science. Participants were 66 undergraduate-mentor dyads who worked together in a research apprenticeship. The undergraduate sample was predominantly composed of women, first-generation college students, and members of ethnic groups that are historically underrepresented in science.ResultsFindings illustrated that undergraduates who reported receiving more instrumental and socioemotional mentoring were higher in scientist identity. Further, mentors who reported engaging in higher levels of negative mentoring had undergraduates with lower scientist identity. Qualitative data from undergraduates' mentors provided deeper insight into their motivation to become mentors and how they reason about conflict in their mentoring relationships.ConclusionsDiscussion highlights theoretical implications and details several methodological recommendations