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Being discriminated and treated unfairly makes people more stressed out
STATES CHRONICLE – Most of the time and for most of us, work is stressful. Even if we love what we do, there are always some stressful situations we have to overcome. And if it happens that our workplace is a source of unfair treatment or racial discrimination, then our stress levels will be even higher.
According to a new study conducted by the APA (American Psychological Association), discrimination in the workplace is one of the major stress factors U.S. citizens deal with. Reports show that half of the American adults have gone through some form of discrimination or unfair treatment.
Some of these unfair treatments include getting fired, not being promoted, being questioned by the police or not receiving proper health care. The study was conducted as an online survey in August 2015. The survey had 3.361 adult respondents.
From all the participants, 7 out of 10 reported having experienced discrimination. Moreover, 61 percent of the respondents said they experience discrimination on a daily basis, some of the examples being getting poorer service than other people, being harassed or treated with less respect.
Besides reporting discrimination, the respondents also reported being stressed out or having poorer health. After analyzing the answers, the researchers discovered a link between discrimination and stress levels. All the people who reported being discriminated or being treated unfairly also reported higher stress levels and health issues.
By comparison, the ones in the survey who didn’t feel discriminated also turned out to be less stressed out. Although discrimination in this study was of all kinds: racial and ethnic, gender based or disabilities based, the most reports of discrimination were among African-Americans.
In numbers, over 75 percent of African-American people participating in the survey reported that they experienced discrimination daily. Moreover, 40 percent of them reported having being treated unfairly by the police.
For most of the participants, being treated unfairly directly affects their levels of stress. 30 percent of African-Americans and Hispanics said they have become more preoccupied with their appearance to make sure they are treated fairly.
Hispanics were also the ones reporting the highest levels of stress. Also, they seem to be the ones who have the least access to health care. Although so many people become stressed out because of unfair treatment, they manage to handle it pretty well, and most of them have a positive outlook on life.
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