An Examination of the Nature and Correlates of Ethnic Harassment Experiences in Multiple Contexts (2000)
Based on previous research, Schneider et al. hypothesized that experiences of ethnic harassment in both the school and work settings have negative mental and physical health consequences. In order to measure these effects, the researchers examined four distinct samples in an educational setting—two sets of undergraduate students, one group of graduate students, and one group of employees within a school district, all in the southwest of the United States. The overall sample was of 360 Hispanics and 208 Anglos. Participants were asked to respond to surveys on ethnic harassment, job attitudes and behaviors, physical and mental health, life satisfaction, and affective disposition. There was no difference in the percentage of Anglos and Hispanics who reported at least one experience of ethnic harassment, which may have been a result of Anglos being the minority in these samples. The most common form of ethnic harassment reported was in the form of ethnic jokes and derogatory remarks about ethnicity, with 24 to 61 per cent of the sample citing one or the other type of harassment. Analyses showed a significant relationship between ethnic harassment (verbal harassment and exclusion) and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, in the school district employee sample. In the graduate student sample, a significant association between exclusion and verbal harassment and life satisfaction and health conditions was shown.
Significance to the documentary: The authors of this study distinguished ethnic harassment from ethnic discrimination. For the purposes of this film, I see both of these concepts as similar enough to be interchangeable. And this research on harassment contributes to the idea that mistreatment of human beings based on their race or ethnicity is detrimental to their health.
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