Abstract:Who am I? While the quality of answers to this question will vary from person to person, most can provide several answers with ease. These answers represent the elements comprising a person's subjective identity structure, reflecting their values, goals, traits, characteristics, preferences, social collectives and categories, and relationships and roles (Vignoles, 2011). Subsumed within this simple question is another, more complex one: "How do I know that who I say I am is truly me?" The question is not merel… Show more
“…An important reason why moving the self away from a stigmatized ingroup has negative consequences for individuals' health and well-being is that it thwarts identity-specific motives, such as self-esteem, belonging, and efficacy, and in turn negatively affects felt authenticity (Crabtree & Pillow, 2020, this issue; see also Dormanen et al, 2020). Not being able to be your true self because of a discriminatory context takes its toll, psychologically and physically.…”
Section: Consequences For the Individualmentioning
Despite equal rights, minority groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTQ + people, and people with mental or physical disabilities face discrimination on a day‐to‐day basis in subtle and hard‐to‐recognize forms. As discrimination slips beneath the surface, it becomes difficult to fight the stigma using collective social identity coping mechanisms. Instead, individual mobility responses such as distancing the self from the stigmatized identity (“self‐group distancing”) become more viable as a way to improve one's individual standing. In this overview of the state of the art, we take a social identity lens to reflect on the current empirical knowledge base on self‐group distancing as a coping mechanism and provide a framework on what self‐group distancing is; when, where and why self‐group distancing likely occurs; and what its consequences are at the individual and the collective level. The contributions in this special issue provide novel insights into how these processes unfold, and serve as a basis to set a future research agenda, for example on what can be done to prevent self‐group distancing (i.e., interventions). Together, the insights highlight that while self‐group distancing may seem effective to (strategically and temporarily) alleviate discomfort or to improve one's own position, on a broader collective level and over time self‐group distancing tends to keep the current unequal social hierarchy in place.
“…An important reason why moving the self away from a stigmatized ingroup has negative consequences for individuals' health and well-being is that it thwarts identity-specific motives, such as self-esteem, belonging, and efficacy, and in turn negatively affects felt authenticity (Crabtree & Pillow, 2020, this issue; see also Dormanen et al, 2020). Not being able to be your true self because of a discriminatory context takes its toll, psychologically and physically.…”
Section: Consequences For the Individualmentioning
Despite equal rights, minority groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTQ + people, and people with mental or physical disabilities face discrimination on a day‐to‐day basis in subtle and hard‐to‐recognize forms. As discrimination slips beneath the surface, it becomes difficult to fight the stigma using collective social identity coping mechanisms. Instead, individual mobility responses such as distancing the self from the stigmatized identity (“self‐group distancing”) become more viable as a way to improve one's individual standing. In this overview of the state of the art, we take a social identity lens to reflect on the current empirical knowledge base on self‐group distancing as a coping mechanism and provide a framework on what self‐group distancing is; when, where and why self‐group distancing likely occurs; and what its consequences are at the individual and the collective level. The contributions in this special issue provide novel insights into how these processes unfold, and serve as a basis to set a future research agenda, for example on what can be done to prevent self‐group distancing (i.e., interventions). Together, the insights highlight that while self‐group distancing may seem effective to (strategically and temporarily) alleviate discomfort or to improve one's own position, on a broader collective level and over time self‐group distancing tends to keep the current unequal social hierarchy in place.
“…This study makes three contributions to the literature. First, it extends the pertinent literature that relied on data collected cross-sectionally (e.g., Brownfield & Brown, 2020; Mereish et al, 2017; Mereish & Poteat, 2015; Petrocchi et al, 2020; Riggle et al, 2017) or over a short time period (e.g., Crabtree & Pillow, 2020; Fletcher & Everly, 2021; Giano et al, 2019; Kiekens & Mereish, 2021). The two-wave data collected over a 1-year period strengthen our ability to make inferences about the directionality of the relationships among the variables and explore the longer term effects of sexual orientation concealment.…”
Section: The Mechanisms Of Sexual Orientation Concealmentmentioning
confidence: 69%
“…Many researchers have found that living in an authentic manner is the key to personal and social wellness (Fletcher & Everly, 2021; Jourard, 1971; Lynch et al, 2009; Petrocchi et al, 2020) because authenticity allows others to know the individual’s true self and enables reciprocal and open interactions (Kernis & Goldman, 2006; Pachankis, 2007). Conversely, concealing a stigmatized identity has been found to threaten the sense of authenticity (Crabtree & Pillow, 2020; Follmer et al, 2020). A meta-analysis of 75 studies reveals a strong positive correlation between authenticity and well-being (Sutton, 2020).…”
Section: The Mechanisms Of Sexual Orientation Concealmentmentioning
As a common experience for sexual minority individuals, sexual orientation concealment has complex implications. Self-determination theory (SDT) and previous studies suggest a mediation path where hiding sexual orientation is associated with well-being through eroding lesbian, gay, bisexual-specific authenticity and inducing loneliness. However, this relationship has rarely been examined using longitudinal data. This study also built on minority stress theory to determine whether the psychological process of concealment operates differently as a function of perceived acceptance in different contexts. A community sample of 636 sexual minority individuals in Hong Kong (48.3% men, 50.5% women, and 1.3% transgender and nonbinary individuals; mean age = 25.36 years) was recruited through lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social media, nongovernmental organizations, and social venues to complete a baseline and 1-year follow-up survey. The results showed that loneliness mediated the relationship between concealment and well-being. Moreover, the mediation path from concealment to well-being via loneliness was moderated by the perceived LGBT-friendliness of the family. The negative association between concealment and well-being was only significant when the family was perceived as supportive of sexual and gender minorities. The study findings elucidated the complex mechanisms involved in the adverse outcomes of sexual orientation concealment and highlighted the importance of loneliness and family context when working with sexual minority clients on their concerns over sexual orientation concealment.
Public Significance StatementThis study indicates that concealing sexual orientation may give rise to feelings of loneliness, which are harmful to the well-being of sexual minority individuals. The adverse effects of concealment are particularly salient among those who perceive their family as LGBT-friendly. Counseling psychologists should assist sexual minority clients in evaluating acceptance in social environments carefully and weighing the costs and benefits of concealment without sacrificing their need for relatedness.
“…Being open and honest has been associated with a feeling of increased authenticity and opportunities to experience validation from others. Recent research (Crabtree & Pillow, 2020) suggests that lack of felt authenticity is more a product of self‐distancing strategies than the existence of a stigmatised identity. However, the experience of those interviewed in this study was that visible psychosis, or lack of concealment, often resulted in strong emotional reactions from others in existing social networks and feelings of rejection: I can't really go back to my old friendship group because they're all (2.0) sort of weirded out by what happened, there's all these sort of pre‐ sort of like (.)…”
People can derive health benefits from social group memberships. However, joining groups can be difficult for people experiencing psychosis due to the social impacts of the condition and public and internalised stigma. We interviewed a diverse group of 26 people experiencing psychosis and explored through thematic analysis their perceptions of how psychosis influenced social identity processes. Participants confirmed both the impact of psychosis on group processes and the value of group memberships for wellbeing. Empathy, understanding, and lack of judgement were perceived to be critical for group formation. Participants sought social validation in both pre‐existing and new relationships, including from others experiencing psychosis. A novel finding was the compartmentalising of the psychosis identity to facilitate periods of either greater connection or social mobility dependent on current mental state. Thus, this study suggests nuance to the application of the Social Cure for a highly stigmatised, yet fluctuating, condition such as psychosis.
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