Past research has consistently demonstrated the negative effects of interpersonal mistreatment on student experiences by employing retrospective studies; however, little is known about the daily effects that could lead to career derailment. The present study advances evidence of the consequences of experiencing multiple forms of interpersonal mistreatment, including sexual harassment, racial harassment and microaggressions, and incivility (collectively labeled HARM) by employing an experience sampling methodology (ESM) to estimate the immediate impact of HARM on career-relevant attitudes among a sample of 202 biomedical health trainees (mentees) funded by a National Institutes of Health fellowship. Grounded in Affective Events Theory, we found that mentees’ daily experiences of HARM were associated with an immediate degradation of their attitudes toward their training program mediated by negative affect. Being racially isolated in a lab or having a racially different mentor increased the prevalence of HARM; moreover, accounting for negative affect, experiences of HARM were positively associated with program attitudes for mentees who were racially well-represented, suggesting that majority status may buffer the negative impact of HARM on attitudes. Understanding these dynamics provides insight into the importance of assessing and addressing daily experiences of mistreatment among graduate and postdoctoral trainees.
Kiebler et al. (2026) studied this question.