Contrary to intuition, members of groups that are derogated by the rest of society can often be the most vocal in expressing their pride (e.g., the gay pride parade). We are interested in understanding the processes involved when members of social groups that have been negatively construed by the rest of society choose to acknowledge "This is me!!!", and how they make the group one that they feel proud to belong to. For example, we have been looking at how group members deal with stereotypes, and how they work together to turn those stereotypes to their advantage. We are also running studies examining group members' willingness to support social strategies to change their status.

Groups are often comprised of a diverse constituency. For example, women constitute different ethnic groups, religions, sexual orientations, and even political ideologies. How then does a group come to view itself as a group, and achieve solidarity to take action? We are exploring the contexts in which group members come together, or fall divisively. For example, we have been conducting experiments to look at women's responses to differences in opinions on women's issues, and how contextual goals affect their openness to incorporating diversity, and how this translates into courses of action.

Especially when we belong to stigmatized groups , support from other members of our group may be important to our well-being. Indeed, members of such groups often seek segregated contexts that allow them to support one another and to treat each other as individuals. These support groups may form the first step in coming to feel good about belonging to a group, despite what the rest of society thinks. Alternatively, these groups may also establish a defensive environment that serves to isolate group members from access to opportunities that would otherwise enhance their status. We are conducting studies to look at the role of support from other members of stigmatized groups on members' identity, esteem and achievement. This includes experimental work, as well as longitudinal research looking at minority students' development of support networks and academic achievement.

Social support is central to coping with stressful events. An inability to deal with traumatic and day-to-day stressors, including discrimination, may be a contributing factor to depression among women, racial minorities, and stigmatized groups such as gays and lesbians. Thus, understanding coping strategies is important to promoting the well-being of members of such groups. Our research looks at coping mechanisms to deal with life events, including women's responses to abuse from intimate partners, childhood trauma such as early maltreatment, coping with discrimination among visible minorities, and relationship conflicts. We are interested in various stress-related outcomes, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and physiological stress functioning (e.g., HPA functioning).