A trouble shared is a trouble halved: The role of family identification and identification with humankind in well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Journal: The British journal of social psychology

Volume: 61

Issue: 1

Year of Publication: 2022

Affiliated Institutions:  Department of Social Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Italy. Department of Biochemistry, Astana Medical University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Department of Social Psychology, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany. Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. School of Management Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Department of Psychology, University Hildesheim, Germany. Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, UK. Department of Psychology of Religion and Pedagogy, International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Department of Psychology, Branch of Moscow State University Named for M.V. Lomonosov in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Department of Health Systems Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.

Abstract summary 

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered health-related anxiety in ways that undermine peoples' mental and physical health. Contextual factors such as living in a high-risk area might further increase the risk of health deterioration. Based on the Social Identity Approach, we argue that social identities can not only be local that are characterized by social interactions, but also be global that are characterized by a symbolic sense of togetherness and that both of these can be a basis for health. In line with these ideas, we tested how identification with one's family and with humankind relates to stress and physical symptoms while experiencing health-related anxiety and being exposed to contextual risk factors. We tested our assumptions in a representative sample (N = 974) two-wave survey study with a 4-week time lag. The results show that anxiety at Time 1 was positively related to stress and physical symptoms at Time 2. Feeling exposed to risk factors related to lower physical health, but was unrelated to stress. Family identification and identification with humankind were both negatively associated with subsequent stress and family identification was negatively associated with subsequent physical symptoms. These findings suggest that for social identities to be beneficial for mental health, they can be embodied as well as symbolic.

Authors & Co-authors:  Frenzel Svenja B SB Junker Nina M NM Avanzi Lorenzo L Bolatov Aidos A Haslam S Alexander SA Häusser Jan A JA Kark Ronit R Meyer Ines I Mojzisch Andreas A Monzani Lucas L Reicher Stephen S Samekin Adil A Schury Valerie A VA Steffens Niklas K NK Sultanova Liliya L Van Dijk Dina D van Zyl Llewellyn E LE Van Dick Rolf R

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations :  Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Rev. ed.). London, UK: Verso.
Authors :  18
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1111/bjso.12470
SSN : 2044-8309
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Anxiety
Other Terms
COVID-19;family identification;health-related anxiety;identification with humankind;mental and physical health;social identity approach
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
Publication Country
England