Enhancing Mothers' Well‐Being: The Role of Stress Mindsets and Coping Appraisals in Addressing Maternal Discrimination at Work

ABSTRACT Discrimination against working mothers is among the strongest forms of employment discrimination today. In the current study, we integrate the stress mindset literature with the organizational literature on stress and coping to examine how a stress‐is‐enhancing mindset improves women's primary and secondary coping appraisals of perceived maternal discrimination, which in turn relates to women's perceived health. Study 1 includes multi‐wave field data from working mothers across a variety of organizations in the United States, offering desirable external validity. Results show that stress mindset predicts more adaptive primary appraisals, which in turn relate to secondary appraisals and ultimately to better perceived health. Study 2 experimentally manipulates stress mindset through a video‐based intervention (vs. control) and examines changes in coping appraisals from pre‐ to post‐intervention. The intervention significantly improved secondary appraisals (but not primary appraisals), producing an indirect effect on perceived health through secondary appraisals alone. We conclude by discussing theoretical implications for stress mindset and appraisal research, methodological contributions, and practical recommendations for supporting working mothers facing discrimination.