Year: 2025

“Sometimes It’s Hard to Do the Right Thing”: The Gender-Inclusivity Leadership Spectrum of How PK–12 Administrators Understand Gender Diversity Laws, Policies, and Implementation

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American Educational Research Journal (2025) Authors: Mollie McQuillan, Janel Anderson, and Lydia Gandy-Fastovich Abstract: PK–12 district-level administrators have been asked to navigate an increasingly complex policy landscape concerning gender-diversity reforms. We apply sensemaking theory to examine administrators’ understanding of legal and policy protections for trans and gender diverse (TGD) students. Using 36 interviews with administrators and …

Can Racial Diversity Attenuate Racial Discrimination in Service Interactions? Evidence from Cite-And-Release Decisions Within Police Departments

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Organizational Science (2023) Author: Jirs Meuris Abstract: Despite the belief that racial diversity in organizations will attenuate racial discrimination in service interactions, the extant literature suggests that it may often exacerbate discrimination by generating intergroup conflict. In this paper, I propose that the influence of racial diversity on racial discrimination in service interactions will depend …

Contextual Inequality in the Performance Costs of Financial Precarity

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Journal of Management (2023) Authors: Jirs Meuris and Joe Gladstone Abstract: A substantial proportion of the workforce experiences financial precarity, which is defined as persistent concern about one’s personal financial welfare. Research suggests that financial precarity often harms performance at work. In this paper, we investigate whether characteristics of the work context disproportionately occupied by people at the …

Task Interdependence and the Gender Wage Gap: The Role of the Gender Composition of an Occupation

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Journal of Organizational Behavior (2023) Authors: Jirs Meuris and Allison Elias Abstract: People increasingly need to collaborate with others in their workplace to perform their jobs. Studies have shown that task interdependence can have important consequences for teams and organizations, and emerging research suggests that it may be contributing to gender inequality. In this paper, we …

A Hidden Barrier to Diversification? Performance Recognition Penalties for Incumbent Workers in Male-Dominated Occupations

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American Sociological Review  (2024) Authors: Jirs Meuris and Jennifer Merluzzi Abstract: Responding to persistent gender inequity, organizations have adopted diversity initiatives to promote women’s representation in traditionally male-dominated occupations. Although studies have identified challenges to these initiatives for women entering occupations, we uncover a performance recognition penalty for incumbent workers originating from the process of occupational …

Living in Ancestrally Diverse States of the United States is Associated with Greater Vagal Tone

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Frontiers in Psychology (2023) Authors: Ethan G. Harrod, Ilan Shrira, Jared D. Martin, and Paula M. Niedenthal Abstract: Historically, exposure to dissimilar others (“strangers”) was a physiologically arousing event—resulting in avoidance, distrust, and even conflict. Despite this, contemporary migration patterns are increasing intergroup contact. What gives rise to an individual’s ability to regulate their arousal such that …

Gender Differences in the Form and Function of Naturally Occurring Smiles

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Psychology (2024) Authors: Zoe Hansen, Paula Niedenthal, Jared Martin, and Adrienne Wood Abstract: Through their nuanced ability to reinforce, reassure, and judge, smiles accomplish many tasks in daily interactions. Do male- and female-identifying individuals use these smiles equally? Although American women smile more often than men overall, it is possible that gender differences in smile behavior are more …

Latent Class Analysis of Heart Health in a Marginalized Black Community

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American Heart Association Journals (2023) Authors: Linda D. Oakley, Wan-Chin Kuo, Rick P. Voland, Hannah Olson-Williams, Faith Kunkul, and Roger L. Brown Abstract: Mounting evidence associates Black American’s experiences of chronic stress with younger age hypertension (HTN) onset, higher prevalence rates, and poorer treatment outcomes. Epigenetic research findings attribute these trends to DNA methylation, commonly referred to …

Mothers, Money, and Multi-Partner Fertility: Understanding Economic Outcomes in Midlife

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Children and Youth Services Review (2025) Authors: Cassandra Dorius, Margaret Gough Courtney, Quentin H. Riser Abstract: This study examines how mothers’ childbearing and relationship histories, specifically, whether they have children with multiple partners (multi-partner fertility, or MPF), are associated with long-term economic outcomes. Drawing on life course and human capital theories, we explore whether MPF …

Besbris and Walsh Receive Romnes Faculty Fellowships

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IDS affiliates Max Besbris (Sociology) and Kate Walsh (Psychology, Gender and Women’s Studies) were recently awarded H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowships. The Romnes Fellowships recognize University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty who have had exceptional research contributions within their first six years of tenure. Max Besbris is associate professor of sociology and associate chair of the Department of …