Opium of the people? National identification predicts well‐being over time

Abstract

Social group membership and its social‐relational corollaries, for example, social contact, trust, and support, are prophylactic for health. Research has tended to focus on how direct social interactions between members of small‐scale groups (i.e., a local sports team or community group) are conducive to positive health outcomes. The current study provides evidence from a longitudinal cross‐cultural sample (N = 6,748; 18 countries/societies) that the prophylactic effect of group membership is not isolated to small‐scale groups, and that members of groups do not have to directly interact, or in fact know of each other to benefit from membership. Our longitudinal analyses suggest that national identification (strength of association with the country/society of which one is a citizen) predicts lower anxiety and improved health; national identification was in fact almost as positively predictive of health status as anxiety was negatively predictive. The findings indicate that identification with large‐scale groups, like small‐scale groups, is palliative, and are discussed in terms of globalization and banal nationalism.

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

“…Thus, people who identify with their families may benefit from the feeling of being socially integrated and supported. By contrast, identifying as part of humankind implies a more symbolic feeling of ‘being in this pandemic together’ with many group members never meeting and interacting with each other (cf., Anderson, 1991 ; Khan et al, 2020 ). Thus, both forms of identification allow testing if social identification of a direct or symbolic nature is negatively related to stress and physical ill‐health symptoms.…”

The I and We of Team Identification: A Multilevel Study of Exhaustion and (In)congruence Among Individuals and Teams in Team Identification

“…Psychological groups do not necessarily involve interactions among group members (see Turner, 1984, e.g., one can strongly identify with a soccer team yet never meet the team), and members benefit from group memberships even without interacting with other members (Khan, Garnett, Hult Khazaie, Liu, & Gil de Zúñiga, 2020). However, the propositions of the social identity approach can readily be applied to group contexts that involve interactions among group members.…”

Whose narratives? Divergence in how history is organised across generations and its impact on well‐being

“…Second, mediators of the relationship between historical narratives and subjective well-being were not tested in this study. One possible mediator of the relationship is narrative identity (Adler et al, 2016), and this can be extended into national identity-in general, strong identification with one's country is linked with greater positive well-being (Khan, Garnett, Hult Khazaie, Liu, & Gil de Z uñiga, 2020;Morrison, Tay, & Diener, 2011) whilst perceived discontinuity between a country's past and present can undermine an individual's perception of future survivability (Jetten & Wohl, 2012). To better understand the relationship between historical narratives and subjective well-being, future research could attempt to test for these mediators.…”