Competency School Stigma: Evidence, Impact And Intervention

At present,some university graduates may suffer from discrimination against the first degrees in the job market,which means they will not be offered the job without a degree conferred by the 985 or 211 universities.It prevails in the job market for many reasons,and a major one is that the general public have competency school stigma.It means that non-985/211 university students are blindly thought to be less competent in their future work than their counterparts from elite universities without taking into account actual capabilities.Based on this,this dissertation explores the evidence,influence and intervention of competency school stigma through four studies.Study 1 explored the evidence of competency school stigma.In Sub-study 1,:Sub-study 2 and sub-study 3,explicit scoring based on the resume,I AT and SEB were used separately to explore the evidence of competency school stigma.The results showed that at the explicit level,university students did not have competency stigma to candidates from ordinary universities.At the implicit level,the elite-university students had competency stigma to the ordinary-university candidates' job competency,and the ordinary-university students had self-stigma to themselves.For the candidates who graduate from the elite universities,university students inclined to attribute their positive behaviors to internal factors and negative behaviors to external factors.For the candidates who graduate from the ordinary universities,the attribution was just the opposite.The elite-university students had in-group favoritism,and ordinary-university students had out-group favoritism.Study 2 explored the influence of competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student on job-search behavior and its mechanism.In sub-study 1 and sub-study 2,"Competency Self-stigma Scale for Ordinary-university Student" and "Competency School Stigma Copying Style Scale" were developed following the scale preparation procedure."Competency Self-stigma Scale for Ordinary-university Student" was designed from three dimensions:stereotype recognition,self-stigma experience,and anticipated stigma;"Competency School Stigma Copying Style Scale" was designed from five dimensions:problem solving,help-seeking,self-blame and complaint,fancy and retreat.Both scales have good reliability and validity and can be used as effective tool to measure competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student and competency school stigma coping style.Seniors were recruited to participate in sub-study 3,they filled out questionnaires regarding Competency Self-stigma Scale for Ordinary-university Student,Job-Searching Behavior Scale,and Job Searching Self-efficacy Scale.Competency School Stigma Copying Style Scale and Social Capital Scale were added separately in Sub-study 4 and Sub-study 5.The results showed that competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student would predict job-searching behavior through the mediating role of job searching self-efficacy.Negative competency school stigma coping style moderated the first half of the model.In other words,for the students with low level of negative competency school stigma coping style,the influence of competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student on the job searching self-efficacy was significant.The family socioeconomic status moderated the second half of the model.In other words,for the students with low level of the family socioeconomic status,the influence of the job searching self-efficacy on job-searching behavior was stronger.Study 3 explored the influence of competency public stigma of ordinary-university student on the stigmatized groups.In Sub-study 1,sub-study 2 and sub-study 3,Emotional Stroop Paradigm/the method of affect adjective self-evaluation/Tust Game and Give-some Game were used respectively to explore the influence of competency school stigma/counter-stigma information on the attentional bias/the emotional experience/the intergroup trust of the stigmatized group.The results showed that when the stigmatized identity of ordinary-university student' competency was highlighted,the stigmatized group showed more attention bias to negative information/experienced strong negative emotions/had more trust to the members of the ingroup,the same trust to single member of the outgroup and less trust to multiple members of the outgroup.When the counter-stigmatized identity of ordinary-university student' competency was highlighted,the stigmatized group showed more attention bias to positive information/experienced moderate positive emotions/had the same trust to members of the ingroup,outgroup,and the strangers.Study 4 explored the intervention of competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student.The group counseling training was conducted to remove the competency self-stigma through the pre-test post-test experimental design with peer groups.The results showed that the group counseling training to remove the competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student could effectively reduce the stereotype recognition,self-stigma experience and overall competency self-stigma,but the intervention effect on anticipated stigma was not obvious.In summary,competency school stigma is an objective phenomena."Competency Self-stigma Scale for Ordinary-university Student" and "Competency School Stigma Copying Style Scale" are in line with psychometric standards.Both mediating and moderating effects exist in the association between competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student and job-searching behavior.Competency public stigma of ordinary-university student is harmful to the cognition,emotions,and intergroup trust of the stigmatized group.The group counseling training to remove the competency self-stigma of ordinary-university student is effective.