The authors examined the use of social surrogates by shy people to expand their social network when entering a new environment, following Bradshaw's social surrogate hypothesis. The authors conducted a panel survey of 70 friendship pairs of students 7 months after they entered university. The results revealed that when a friend acted as a surrogate, the shy students extended their joint networks more. In contrast, not-shy students extended their networks regardless of whether a friend acted as a surrogate. These results indicate that even shy people can adjust indirectly to new social circumstances because they can expand their social networks by using a close friend as a surrogate.

The present study examined the hypothesis that in situations that threaten self-esteem, people with independent self-construal show more ingroup favouritism, whereas people with interdependent self-construal do not. Using a minimal group paradigm, consistent with the hypothesis, the results showed that self-construal and threats to self-esteem have an interactive effect on ingroup favouritism. Individuals with independent self-construal showed more ingroup favouritism when their self-esteem was threatened than when it was not threatened, whereas individuals with interdependent self-construal exhibited less ingroup favouritism when their self-esteem was threatened than when it was not threatened. These findings suggest that independent/interdependent selfconstrual moderates the use of ingroup favouritism for maintaining and enhancing self-evaluation.

Individuals with independent self-construals identify with their in-group in order to buffer threats to self-esteem to a greater degree than do those with interdependent self-construals. This study focused on the effect of the in-group's social value and representation on this identification process among individuals who reported various real-world threats to their self-esteem. We conducted a questionnaire survey for university students and we examined how self-construal, the in-group social value, and the in-group representation either moderate or mediate the relationship between threat to self-esteem and identification with their academic departments. The results of multiple-group analyses of structural equation modelling showed that independents who reported more threats to their self-esteem identified with the in-group when it was high in social value. In contrast, they did not exhibit in-group identification when it was low in social value. Interdependents showed less in-group identification regardless of the in-group's social value. The representation of the in-group as a common identity group mediated the relationship between threat to self-esteem and in-group identification for independents, whereas the representation of a common bond group played the same role for interdependents. These findings suggest the importance of considering the role of self-construal and the in-group social value, along with the representation of in-group, in understanding in-group identification in situations of threat to self-esteem.

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Previous research has indicated that the effects of in‐group social value on mental health are mediated by the extent to which individuals identify with their in‐group. Other research has shown that in‐group identification leads to positive mental health because it provides in‐group members with a psychological basis for social support. We examine how the individual's perception of the social value of the in‐group leads to positive mental health, integrating the effects of identification with and support from the in‐group. As predicted, the relationship between higher social value and decreased mental health (e.g. depression, perceived stressful events) is mediated by higher in‐group identification, which in turn leads the members to expect support from the in‐group but not the out‐group. An integrated model of the effects of perceived in‐group social value, identification, and support on mental health is proposed, and the implications are discussed.