European Journal of Social Psychology

Jetten, Jolanda; Haslam, S. Alexander; Cruwys, Tegan; Greenaway, Katharine H.; Haslam, Catherine; Steffens, Niklas K.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2333pmid: N/A

The health of people's body and mind is powerfully conditioned by social factors that affect their social identity. Consistent with this notion, there is a growing interest in the way that group memberships (and the social identities derived from belonging to these groups) affect health and well‐being. To the extent that group memberships provide individuals with meaning, support, and agency (i.e., a positive sense of social identity), health is positively impacted, constituting a “social cure”. However, when group membership is not associated with these positive psychological resources or when social identity is challenged in other ways (e.g., group membership is devalued or stigmatised), social identities may become a curse, threatening and potentially harming health and well‐being. In a range of social contexts, novel examples of these processes are brought together in the contributions to this special issue. In this editorial, we link the findings from these contributions to a set of hypotheses that emerge from the social identity approach to highlight the nuanced ways in which social identity processes are key to understanding health and well‐being (Haslam, Jetten, Cruwys, Dingle, & Haslam, forthcoming). The contributions in this special issue point to fruitful ways to develop the social cure agenda. Together they highlight the importance of social identities as powerful psychological resources that have an important role to play in managing and improving health.

Begeny, Christopher T.; Huo, Yuen J.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2292pmid: N/A

Two studies (longitudinal, N = 510; cross‐sectional; N = 249) explain how feeling valued in one's ethnic/sexual minority group has benefits for mental health but also certain costs through the way it shapes minorities' identity. Drawing from the intragroup status and health (ISAH) model, we posit that when individuals feel valued in their minority group it bolsters group identification; with greater identity‐centrality, individuals tend to view daily social interactions through the “lens” of their minority group and ultimately perceive more discrimination. Discrimination, in turn, negatively shapes health. Thus, feeling valued in one's minority group has benefits for health but also indirect costs, perhaps counterintuitively by strengthening minority group identity. Results of both studies supported these predictions. Study 2 also supported an adapted ISAH model for use in the context of concealable stigmatized identities (sexual minorities). Overall, the ISAH model explains why feeling valued and having strong social identities are not always beneficial, yielding certain costs for stigmatized individuals' health.

Bobowik, Magdalena; Martinovic, Borja; Basabe, Nekane; Barsties, Lisa S.; Wachter, Gusta

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2306pmid: N/A

Rejection‐identification and rejection‐disidentification models propose that low‐status groups identify with their in‐group and disidentify with a high‐status out‐group in response to rejection by the latter. Our research tests these two models simultaneously among multiple groups of foreign‐born people living in two cultural contexts. We examined these effects on representative samples of 2446 refugees in the Netherlands (Study 1) and 1234 voluntary immigrants in Spain (Study 2). We found that both ethnic and host national identification are ‘healthy’ and thus predominantly conducive to greater hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being. Further, perceived discrimination was associated with host national disidentification among refugees in the Netherlands and voluntary immigrants in Spain. However, our findings regarding the rejection‐identification link were less consistent. We discuss the importance of ethnic and host national identification for the well‐being of immigrants.

Çelebi, Elif; Verkuyten, Maykel; Bagci, Sabahat Cigdem

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2299pmid: N/A

Using a risk and resilience framework and motivated identity construction theory, we investigated the moderating role of identity needs in the association between social identification and perceived discrimination with mental and physical health among a sample of Syrian refugees (N = 361) in Turkey. Results showed that there were two clusters of interrelated identity needs, namely, belonging (belonging, continuity, and esteem) and efficacy (efficacy, meaningfulness, and distinctiveness). Higher perceived ethnic discrimination was found to be associated with poorer mental and physical health but not for respondents who derived a sense of efficacy from their Syrian identity. Higher Syrian identification was associated with lower depression and anxiety but more strongly for refugees who derived a sense of belonging and continuity from their Syrian identity. The findings indicate that investigating the motivational aspects of identity formation is important for understanding when discrimination and group identification undermine or rather contribute to the well‐being and health of refugees. These findings are discussed in relation to the growing research on social identities and health.

Cooper, Kate; Smith, Laura G. E.; Russell, Ailsa

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2297pmid: N/A

We investigated Autism social identity and mental health in autistic people. Autistic people have social and communication deficits, and experience social stigma—factors that could interfere with the development of positive social identity. Indeed, autistic participants (N = 272) had significantly lower personal self‐esteem, and higher levels of depression and anxiety than typically developing controls (N = 267). Autism social identification was positively associated with personal self‐esteem, and this relationship was mediated by collective self‐esteem (perceived positivity of Autism identity). Furthermore, there were significant negative indirect effects between Autism identification and anxiety, and between Autism identification and depression, through increases in collective self‐esteem and personal self‐esteem. Thus, while autistic participants reported poorer mental health than average, having a positive Autism social identity appeared to offer a protective mechanism. This implies that to improve mental health in the Autism population, clinical approaches should aim to facilitate development of positive Autism identities.

Heath, Stacey C.; Rabinovich, Anna; Barreto, Manuela

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2296pmid: N/A

The present paper adopts a social identity perspective to examine the relationship between community‐based identification and well‐being, resilience and willingness to pay back in the context of urban regeneration. A sample of 104 residents across five deprived urban areas in the southwest of England that have recently undergone or are about to undergo regeneration projects completed a survey. The results demonstrate that areas where a more community‐centred, bottom‐up, approach to regeneration was taken (i.e., ‘culture‐led’) showed higher levels of community cohesion than areas where the community dynamics were ignored (i.e., a ‘top‐down’ approach to regeneration). Increased community identification was linked to greater perceived social support, community‐esteem, personal self‐esteem and self‐efficacy. These psychological processes were, in turn, linked to increased resilience and well‐being, as well as a stronger willingness to pay back to the community. The results are consistent with the social identity approach. Implications for urban regeneration strategies are discussed.

Hopkins, Nick; Reicher, Stephen David

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2288pmid: N/A

Identifying with a group can bring benefits to physical and psychological health. These benefits can be found with both small‐scale and large‐scale social groups. However, groups can also be associated with health risks: A distinct branch of medicine (‘Mass Gathering Medicine’) has evolved to address the health risks posed by participating in events characterised by large crowds. We argue that emphasising either the positive or the negative health consequences of group life is one‐sided: Both positive and negative effects on health can occur (simultaneously). Moreover, both such effects can have their roots in the same social psychological transformations associated with a group‐based social identification. Reviewing evidence from across a range of mass gatherings, we offer a conceptual analysis of such mixed effects. Our account shows (i) how social identity analyses can enrich mass gathering medicine and (ii) how social identity analyses of health can be enriched by examining mass gatherings.

Kearns, Michelle; Muldoon, Orla T.; Msetfi, Rachel M.; Surgenor, Paul W. G.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2304pmid: N/A

Suicide is recognised to be subject to social contagion, with an elevated risk of adverse outcomes amongst those affected. Drawing upon research within the social identity approach, we hypothesised that, for those bereaved by suicide, identifying with similar others could provide ‘a social cure’. A large cross‐sectional study and a longitudinal study were carried out at a charity fundraiser for suicide prevention, with participants completing an online survey before and after the event. Results showed that, for those who lost someone they knew (Study 1) or a family member (Study 2) to suicide, there was a significant increase in psychological well‐being after the event. This was mediated by identification with the crowd. These findings demonstrate that collective participation in a suicide awareness event can be an effective social intervention for those bereaved by suicide in terms of psychological well‐being, with implications for informing best‐practice interventions targeting this at‐risk group.

McNamara, Niamh; Coyne, Imelda; Ford, Tamsin; Paul, Moli; Singh, Swaran; McNicholas, Fiona

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2329pmid: N/A

Adolescents attending Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) requiring ongoing care are transferred to adult services (AMHS) at eighteen. Many young people with service needs are not being referred, or are refusing referral to AMHS. This study explored these issues from a social identity change perspective. Transcripts of interviews conducted with young people (n = 11), their parents (n = 5) and child (n = 11) and adult (n = 8) psychiatrists were thematically analysed. Transition to AMHS confirmed an illness identity. Young people adopting this identity saw continued service engagement as identity‐congruent. Disengagement was attributed to failure to adopt an illness identity or to an emerging adult identity associated with greater independence. Fractious professional relationships hindered transition and delayed the formation of a therapeutic alliance with AMHS staff. Disengagement post‐transfer was linked to incompatibility between the AMHS service remit and specific illness identities. This study demonstrates how an intersection between identities shapes service engagement and disengagement.

Muldoon, Orla T.; Acharya, Khagendra; Jay, Sarah; Adhikari, Kamal; Pettigrew, Judith; Lowe, Robert D.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2330pmid: N/A

Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was initially conceptualized as a psychopathology that arose as a consequence of war time experiences. More recently, available evidence has demonstrated that post‐traumatic stress (PTS) as a consequence of war is buffered by social identity processes. In such contexts, identity resources are arguably more readily accessible given the integral relationship between social identities and intergroup violence. There is no evidence as yet to suggest that social identity processes may act to reduce PTS responses to naturally occurring disasters such as earthquakes and even less data pertaining to non‐Western contexts where the impact of such disasters tends to be particularly catastrophic. This article reports on a study undertaken in earthquake‐affected regions in Nepal devastated by the April 2015 quake and its major aftershock a month later. Participants (n=399) completed measures of their earthquake experience, Post‐Traumatic Stress and Post Traumatic growth (PTG), as well as measures of community identification and collective efficacy. In total 399 people completed the measures approximately six months after the quakes. Results of the study indicated that consistent with tenets of the social identity framework, ethnic and gender group memberships impacted on reported experiences during the earthquake. Reported experience during the quakes and ethnic group membership were both related to increased symptoms of PTS. Ethnicity was also linked to the proportion of respondents reporting clinical levels of PTSD symptoms. The relationship between earthquake experience and PTG was mediated by community identification and collective efficacy. Earthquake experience also had an indirect effect on PTS through collective efficacy. Implications of these findings for those working with traumatized groups are discussed.