publications

2022

1. Walking on ‘‘Mars’’: Gendered Group Processes in Space Analog Missions Popovaite, Inga, and Bianchi, Alison J Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments 2022 [Abs]

   Most research on mixed-gender teams in space analog environments focuses on individual-level variation and overlooks structural causes of inequality. Status characteristics theory posits how socially recognized traits, such as gender, contribute to the formation of informal hierarchies by denoting perceived levels of competence to group members. We investigated gender as a status characteristic in groups in space analog environments. We used data from the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and hypothesized that women crew members are less likely than men to be selected to participate in simulated extravehicular activities during a Mars simulation at the MDRS. We used reports and biographies from 30 randomly selected crews (n 5 177) posted on the MDRS website to construct our dataset and multilevel generalized regression models to test our hypothesis. Women crew members were 6% less likely to participate in simulated extravehicular activities than men, controlling for crew role, education, and other factors. Our study shows that gender acts as a status characteristic and influences group decisions in crews in space analogs. These results highlight the need for more studies on interactional inequalities in preparation for a long-term human spaceflight.

2. Gender and leadership in space analogs: A study of MDRS commanders’ reports Popovaite, Inga Acta Astronautica 2022 [Abs]

   Little is known about gender differences in leadership in space analog environments. Research from other domains show that women and men leaders seldom differ in agentic skills, but women tend to be more communal. I use social role theory to systematically explore gender differences in leadership in crews that participated in simulated missions in the Mars Desert Research Station in 2009–2016. I use Commanders’ reports (n = 824) and look for gender differences in communal and agentic aspects in the reports. I combine sentiment analysis, qualitative analysis, and proportional word frequencies to unobtrusively study leadership traits at the MDRS. Independent t-tests showed that female commanders are statistically significantly (p \textless .001) more positive in their reports than their male counterparts. Qualitative analysis showed that both male and female commanders are agentic, but male commanders talked more about maintenance issues, and did it in more negative tone in comparison to female commanders. Commanders of both genders were communal, but male commanders focused on crew cohesion in terms of team spirit, and women emphasized mutual support. Proportional word frequencies showed that commanders of both genders are agentic, but women tend to use more general terms and men use more specific terms in their reports. Female commanders used more communal words than male commanders. Overall, the results are in line with previous social role theory research and show that commanders of both genders are agentic (but with granular differences), and female commanders tend to be more communal. I discuss theoretical and practical implications of the results.

2018

1. Patterns and Impacts of Racial and International Student Disparities in Experiences of Campus Climate, Academic Support, and Financial Conditions Bruch, Sarah K., Popovaite, Inga, Felix, Elizabeth, and Anson, Matthew 2018 [Abs]

   In this chapter, the authors document the extent of disparities across racial groups and for international and immigrant students in campus climate for diversity, academic support, and financial conditions; examine the association between these campus experiences and academic outcomes; and explore whether the impacts of these campus experiences are stronger for historically underrepresented racial groups, immigrant, and/or international students. The authors discover that while international students have much lower rates of financial strain, the negative impact of financial strain is stronger for international students. The authors also find that immigrant students report higher levels of financial strain, however worrying about personal and family debt is unexpectedly associated with accumulating more credits and a higher likelihood of graduation.

2. Equity, Inclusion and Diversity among Undergraduate Students at the University of Iowa 2013-2016 Bruch, Sarah K., Popovaite, Inga, Felix, Elizabeth, and Anson, Matthew 2018