Workplace Discrimination and Health: A Longitudinal Analysis of Gender Differences and Intergenerational Outcomes

Eric Michael Allen

Despite legal reforms banning workplace discrimination, scholars have documented the persistence of workplace discrimination today. Scholars have since documented the significance of perceived discrimination as a key mechanism of persistent health inequalities. However, few have thoroughly investigated the extent to which mental health inequalities from perceived workplace discrimination matter for women and men. My dissertation investigates the importance of gender inequality in shaping both perceptions of workplace discrimination and its mental health consequences in four ways using Survey of Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS) data. First, I examine how gender and workplace power shape perceptions of workplace discrimination between employed women and men. I find gender does not significantly shape perceptions of workplace discrimination until accounting for supervisor status (an indicator of workplace power). I argue scholars must consider gender and workplace power simultaneously to understand how perceptions of work discrimination are patterned. Second, I examine whether employed men and women experience similar mental health outcomes from perceptions of work discrimination at waves one and two. I find both women’s and men’s mental health suffer from perceived workplace discrimination in wave one; however, women’s poorer mental health remains worse in wave two while men’s mental health recovers. Additionally, the perception of workplace discrimination is more harmful for women’s (but not men’s) long-term mental health. Third, I examine whether employed parents’ perceived workplace discrimination carries over to harm children’s emotional health. I find mothers’ (but not fathers’) perceived workplace discrimination is positively related to children’s emotional problems. Moreover, the perception of workplace discrimination is also more harmful for mothers’ (but not fathers’) children’s emotional health. Fourth, I examine whether the mechanisms linking parents’ perceived workplace discrimination are different for fathers and mothers. I find perceived work discrimination is indirectly linked with children’s emotional problems through fathers’ poorer father-child relationship quality and mothers’ increased psychological distress. Thus, the long arm of discrimination is evident. I argue discrimination is a social (rather than an individual) exposure that has gendered health consequences for both employed adults and their children.

Workplace Discrimination and Health: A Longitudinal Analysis of Gender Differences and Intergenerational Outcomes

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