title: Gender-based rejection sensitivity and academic self-silencing in women.
abstract: Building on prior work on rejection sensitivity, we propose a social-cognitive model of gender-based rejection sensitivity (Gender RS) to account for individual differences in how women perceive and cope with gender-based evaluative threats in competitive, historically male institutions. Study 1 develops a measure of Gender RS, defined as anxious expectations of gender-based rejection. Studies 2-5 support the central predictions of the model: Gender RS is associated with increased perceptions of gender-based threats and increased coping by self-silencing--responses that reinforce feelings of alienation and diminished motivation. Study 2 shows that Gender RS is distinct from overall sensitivity to rejection or perceiving the world through the lens of gender. Study 3 shows that Gender RS becomes activated specifically when gender-based rejection is a plausible explanation for negative outcomes. Study 4 provides experimental evidence that Gender RS predicts lower academic self-confidence, greater expectations of bias, and avoidance of opportunities for further help from a weakness-focused expert evaluator. Study 5 tests the Gender RS model in situ, using daily diaries to track women's experiences during the first weeks in a highly competitive law school. Implications for women's coping with the subtle nature of contemporary sexism are discussed as well as the importance of institution-level checks to prevent the costs of gender-based rejection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500, USA. bonita.london@sunysb.edu
authors.forename: Bonita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: London
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Downey
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Romero-Canyas
authors.forename: Aneeta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rattan
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tyson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011287:Prejudice; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*