A paradox of support seeking and rejection among the stigmatized

نویسندگان

  • STACEY L. WILLIAMS
  • KRISTIN D. MICKELSON
  • Stacey L. Williams
چکیده

Individuals perceiving stigma may be unwilling to seek support directly. Instead, they may use indirect strategies due to fear of rejection. Ironically, indirect seeking leads to unsupportive network responses (i.e., rejection). In Study 1, data collected from structured interviews of a sample of U.S. women in poverty (N 1⁄4 116) showed that perceived poverty-related stigma was related to increased fear of rejection, which in turn partially mediated perceived stigma and indirect seeking. In Study 2, data gathered from structured interviews of a sample of U.S. abused women (N 1⁄4 177) revealed that perceived abuse-related stigma was linked to increased indirect seeking, which in turn related to increased unsupportive network responses. By contrast, direct support seeking was related to increased supportive and decreased unsupportive responses. For decades, researchers have noted the influence of stigma on social interactions. In his classic theoretical work, Goffman (1963) stated the stigmatized may withdraw from social situations, and likewise, the nonstigmatized may avoid interactions with the stigmatized. Researchers continue to uphold the belief that stigma influences social interactions, and ‘‘the psychological and social consequences of stigma involve the responses both of the perceivers and of stigmatized people themselves’’ (Dovidio, Major, & Crocker, 2000, p. 5). This dual response implies that these problems may arise from a dynamic interplay of social behaviors and perceptions on the part of both individuals in an interaction. Recent research has focused on beliefs and behaviors of the perceiver and the target (i.e., the stigmatized) within dyadic interactions. This work has shown that outcomes of social interactions often confirm initial expectations about what the social encounter will hold, reflecting a self-fulfilling prophecy (Jussim, Palumbo, Chatman, Madon, & Smith, 2000). In this article, we apply these prior findings and concepts within dyadic interactions to stigmatized individuals’ encounters with their social support network. In so doing, we integrate the literature on perceived stigma, which is traditionally social psychological, with the personal relationships literature on support seeking. We believe that individuals’ stigma perceptions may lead them to interact with their support network in ways that contribute to the rejection they ultimately receive from the network. Drawing from sensitive interaction systems theory (SIST; Barbee & Cunningham, 1995), we posit and test a paradox of support seeking, such that stigmatized individuals use less direct and more indirect methods to solicit support, which inadvertently lead to unsupportive responses and their feared rejection. Stacey L. Williams, Department of Psychology, East Tennessee State University; Kristin D. Mickelson, Department of Psychology, Kent State University. We thank Dr. Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton for his comments on an early draft. Study 2 was supported by Geis Memorial Dissertation funds awarded to the first author by Division 35 of the American Psychological Association. Correspondence should be addressed to Stacey Williams, East Tennessee State University, Department of Psychology, Johnson City, TN 37614, e-mail: williasl@ etsu.edu. Personal Relationships, 15 (2008), 493–509. Printed in the United States of America. Copyright 2008 IARR. 1350-4126=08

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تاریخ انتشار 2008