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ABSTRACT Research highlights the long‐term collective effects of mass human rights violations (MHRVs) on survivors’ wellbeing. This multi‐method, multi‐context paper combines the social identity approach (SIA), transitional and social justice theories and human rights‐conceptualised wellbeing to propose a human rights understanding of trauma responses and experiences in the context of MHRVs. In Study 1, ethnographic research in four locations in Kosova, 5 years post war indicates that lack of perceived conflict‐related and social justice is experienced as a key contributor to survivors’ individual and collective wellbeing. In Study 2, 61 semi‐structured interviews with MHRVs survivors from post‐war Kosova, post‐conflict Northern Ireland and post‐dictatorship Albania two to three decades post conflict also show that such justice experiences inform wellbeing. These studies illustrate the importance of expanding the SIA to health and trauma theories by taking account of a human rights‐conceptualised wellbeing as well as adopting a holistic analysis of justice perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK's National Health Service has introduced Social Prescribing initiatives to tackle loneliness and ill‐health, yet it lacks a theoretical foundation and evidence base for Social Prescribing's effectiveness. Recent research applies the Social Identity Approach to Health (SIAH) to explain Social Prescribing's health benefits, emphasising how social connection unlocks health‐enhancing psychological mechanisms. This systematic review therefore aims to assess UK‐based Social Prescribing programmes designed to boost social connection and alleviate loneliness, examining programme efficacy and the role of SIAH processes in health outcomes. Following PRISMA guidelines, a narrative synthesis of articles published from May 5, 2006 (when social prescribing was first introduced in the NHS), to April 8, 2024, was conducted, and their quality assessed using CONSORT‐SPI (2018). Of these programmes, 10 employed a mixed‐methods design, 8 qualitative and 1 quantitative service evaluation, totalling 3,298 participants. Results indicate that Social Prescribing's psychological value lies in quality rather than quantity of social connections, with meaningful connections fostering shared identity, perceived support and self‐efficacy, the latter of which sustains social engagement post‐programme. The SIAH was a useful tool for mapping mixed‐methods findings onto a common theoretical framework to highlight these key proponents. Overall, this review underscores the importance of SIAH‐informed Social Prescribing interventions in enhancing social connectedness, reducing loneliness, and promoting overall health. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass human rights violations, such as those which occurred during the Albanian Dictatorship (1945–1991), can impact citizens across generations. Decades later, the lives of families and community members are often defined by efforts to achieve justice and prevent similar future experiences. Existing research shows that social identities predict how survivors experience, understand, and cope with these violations. On the other hand, social identities can also inform societal-level strategies of peace and reconciliation in the aftermath. However, it is not known how ingroup norms (e.g., familial, civic) impact intergenerational understandings of and responses toward transitional justice. To explore this, we analyze the accounts of first-generation survivors of human rights violations during the Albanian Dictatorship and their descendants (n = 52). The data were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis informed theoretically by the Social Identity Approach and conceptually by transitional justice frameworks. The findings indicate that families take a central role in determining how past harms are understood and responded to, and that associated identity-based norms (e.g., family norms) inform transmission of knowledge about past harms and appropriate forms of justice. Identity-based norms can also determine which justice processes are deemed acceptable for the next generation/s to engage in (e.g., peaceful responses, documentation of past harm, education of new generations, and fights for democracy). Implications for social identity and justice theories, as well as for practice, are discussed. Public Significance Statement: The present study suggests that family and civic social norms can guide intergenerational understanding and coping with mass human rights violations as well as responses to transitional justice processes (e.g., nonvengeance, documenting violations, democracy building) in the aftermath. As such, social norms should be integrated in the efforts for peace and reconciliation building. The findings also highlight the different benefits and harms of transmitting knowledge of the violations across generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the threats to health posed by loneliness. One of the main strategies that has been recommended to address this is social prescribing (SP). This typically involves general practitioners (GPs) and other health practitioners directing clients who are experiencing loneliness and related conditions to take part in social activities—typically in recreational and community contexts. However, evidence for the effectiveness of SP is mixed—leading some to suggest that enthusiasm for it might be misplaced. In this review, we argue that a core problem with most existing approaches to SP is that they lack a strong theoretical base. This has been a barrier to (a) understanding when SP will work and why, (b) designing optimally effective SP programmes, and (c) developing practitioner skills and appropriate infrastructure to support them. As a corrective to this state of affairs, this review outlines a three-tier social identity framework for SP and five associated hypotheses. These hypotheses predict that SP will be more effective when (a) clients join groups and (b) these groups are ones with which they identify, and when SP is supported by (c) social-identity-enhancing social infrastructure, (d) a social-identity-based therapeutic alliance, and (e) identity leadership that builds and shapes this alliance as well as clients' identification with prescribed groups. This framework is supported by a range of evidence and provides an agenda for much-needed future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the 5th International Conference on Social Identity and Health (ICSIH 5) and its research on the Social Identity Approach to Health (SIAH). It highlights the theoretical foundations of SIAH, its benefits, and the role of multiple group memberships in enhancing resilience. It emphasizes the application of Social Cure insights in clinical, health, sport, and organizational settings.

Volunteering can enhance both help‐recipients' and volunteers' lives, so it is important to explore what motivates people to begin and continue volunteering. For instance, research underpinned by the social identity approach recognises that group‐related processes are consequential. Recent quantitative research within this tradition highlighted the potential importance of volunteering as a means of religious identity enactment, but no work has yet explored this idea qualitatively, which means that the richness and complexity of identity enactment as a motive for volunteering remains unexamined. Addressing this, we conducted interviews with volunteers (N = 26) within English religiously motivated voluntary organisations that are responding to an important real‐world issue: growing levels of food insecurity. Theoretically guided reflexive thematic analysis developed four themes showing that volunteering can facilitate enactment of different identities (i.e., religious, volunteer and human), thus illustrating the nuanced and complex nature of identity enactment through volunteering. Theoretical and practical implications are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to veterancy can be psychologically challenging, and although the military provides support, the importance of social connectedness for well‐being is largely unrecognised. The significance of this oversight is highlighted by the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC), which conceptualises life change as social identity change. SIMIC has been applied to numerous life transitions, but not to veterancy, although there is evidence that the social and psychological challenges of this transition may be especially profound (e.g., due to the chronically salient, highly structured and largely unique nature of military life and identity). To remedy this, in Study 1 (N = 210), UK‐based veterans completed an online survey. Consistent with SIMIC, social group maintenance and gain predicted mental health via the psychological resources they provided (meaning, self‐esteem, sense of personal control), and group gain was predicted by perceived military support during the transition. Study 2 (N = 14) extended these findings qualitatively through exploration of veterans' transition experiences. These studies are the first to apply aspects of the SIMIC to the veterancy transition, and they show the applicability of SIMIC in this context. They also highlight the need for transition‐related education that includes guidance on group joining and reconnecting. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating disorder recovery is an identity transition characterised by ambivalence, in which group memberships play an important part. However, our understanding of how memberships of groups with different recovery norms (i.e., supportive vs. unsupportive of recovery) can facilitate or inhibit recovery is limited. To address this gap, this study adopted the Social Identity Model of Recovery to examine how recovery is manifest through the changing composition of an individual's group memberships. We employed a convergent mixed methods design to quantitatively determine whether specific groups (i.e., family, friends, and online groups) are more helpful to eating disorder recovery than others, and to qualitatively explore how group (in)compatibility shapes recovery efforts. There was a high level of convergence across survey (N = 112) and interview (N = 12) data: groups could have a positive or negative impact according to their recovery norms; different groups provided different forms of support and identity‐expression; incompatibility was not always experienced as a problem and could afford strategic benefits. Our findings are amongst the first to attest to the importance of considering identity networks (and their normative content) during eating disorder recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social identity approach (SIA) research shows that community members often work together to support survivors of collective victimization and rectify social injustices. However, complexities arise when community members have been involved in perpetrating these injustices. While many communities are unaware of their role in fostering victimization, others actively deny their role and responsibility to restore justice. We explore these processes by investigating experiences of community violence and collective justice‐seeking among Albanian survivors of dictatorial crimes. Survivors (N = 27) were interviewed, and data were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis guided by the SIA. The analysis reveals the diverse ways communities can become harmful 'Social Curses'. First, communities in their various forms became effective perpetrators of fear and control (e.g., exclusion and/or withholding ingroup privileges) during the dictatorship because of the close relationship between communities and their members. Second, communities caused harm by refusing to accept responsibility for the crimes, and by undermining attempts at collective action to address injustices. This lack of collective accountability also fosters survivors' feelings of exclusion and undermines their hope for systematic change. Implications for SIA processes relating to health/wellbeing (both Social Cure and Curse) are discussed. We also discuss implications for understanding collective action and victimhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families play an important role in eating disorder (ED) recovery, and it has been suggested that they can ameliorate the loneliness associated with EDs. However, the psychological mechanisms through which this occurs have yet to be systematically explored. Utilising the Social Identity Approach to Health, we explore whether identification with one's family group positively predicts health in people with self‐reported EDs due to its potential to reduce feelings of loneliness. We investigate this in two online questionnaire studies (N = 82; N = 234), one conducted before the COVID‐19 pandemic and the second conducted in its early stages. In both studies, mediation analyses demonstrated that family identification was associated with fewer and less severe self‐reported ED symptoms, and in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, reduced self‐reported ED‐related impact and anxiety. In both studies, these benefits were suggestive of a protective role of family identification against loneliness. Our findings provide a framework for understanding in general why families can be considered an important social recovery resource and should be included in the treatment of adult EDs. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communities are vital sources of support during crisis, providing collective contexts for shared identity and solidarity that predict supportive, prosocial responses. The COVID‐19 pandemic has presented a global health crisis capable of exerting a heavy toll on the mental health of community members while inducing unwelcome levels of social disconnection. Simultaneously, lockdown restrictions have forced vulnerable community members to depend upon the support of fellow residents. Fortunately, voluntary helping can be beneficial to the well‐being of the helper as well as the recipient, offering beneficial collective solutions. Using insights from social identity approaches to volunteering and disaster responses, this study explored whether the opportunity to engage in helping fellow community members may be both unifying and beneficial for those engaging in coordinated community helping. Survey data collected in the UK during June 2020 showed that coordinated community helping predicted the psychological bonding of community members by building a sense of community identification and unity during the pandemic, which predicted increased well‐being and reduced depression and anxiety. Implications for the promotion and support of voluntary helping initiatives in the context of longer‐term responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic are provided. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stronger family relationships predict positive health outcomes: a relationship that is partially due to the range of emotional, practical and informational support that families can provide. Yet not all families possess these resources. A survey study in a disadvantaged community in Nottingham, UK (N = 142) demonstrated that family identification positively predicts ability to cope with financial stress, but that this relationship is moderated by whether family support is present or absent. Semi-structured interviews with 10 members of different families from the same community shed further light upon the nature of this relationship: individuals report that they tend to turn to their family rather than friends or community services in times of financial hardship, even though their family are unlikely to be able to support them effectively, and that this is often due to feelings of embarrassment or finance-related stigma. Our findings highlight the complex role that families can play in finance-related issues, as well as the need to encourage individuals to seek financial support from sources which provide effective (rather than emotionally comfortable) assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of shared identity in predicting both ingroup helping behaviour and adherence to protective norms during COVID‐19 has been extensively theorized, but remains largely under‐investigated. We build upon previous Social Identity research into community resilience by testing the role of pre‐existing local community (or 'neighbourhood') identity as a predictor of these outcomes, via the mediator of perceived social support. Community residents in the UK completed a longitudinal online survey four months before lockdown (T1; N = 253), one month before lockdown (T2; N = 217), and two months into lockdown (T3; N = 149). The cross‐lagged panel analysis shows that T1 community identification predicts T3 giving and receiving of pandemic‐related support, and that these effects occur via the perception of community support at the second time point (while the alternative pathway from T1 support via T2 identification is non‐significant). Moreover, we show that T1 community identification also directly predicts lockdown adherence at T3. Our findings point to the pivotal role played by community identity in effective behavioural responses to the pandemic, and the need to support and foster community development to facilitate local community resilience as the crisis continues to unfold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohesive, resilient communities are vital to the well‐being of residents. Uncovering the determinants of successful community identities is therefore essential to progressing the community health agenda. Engaging in community participation through volunteering may be one pathway to building local community identity and enhancing residents' health and well‐being, but the group processes connecting them remain unexplored. We conducted two studies investigating these dynamics using the "Social Cure" perspective. First, we analysed 53 in‐depth interviews with volunteers, finding that community relationships shaped their experiences and that volunteering influenced their sense of community belonging, support, and well‐being. Second, a community survey (N = 619) revealed that volunteering predicts well‐being through the serial mediators of community identification and social support. Our article demonstrates the Social Cure processes involved in community‐based volunteering, their impact on community identity, support and well‐being, and their implications for community health, and the provision and sustainability of community voluntary action and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity in developed countries has increased rapidly. Research has suggested that stigma may inhibit food‐aid help‐seeking, but has failed to determine how such barriers might be overcome. Adopting a social identity perspective, this study explored the processes involved in food‐aid helping transactions and sought to identify conditions that facilitate positive helping outcomes. Interviews were conducted with 18 clients and 12 volunteers at two English foodbanks, and a theoretically guided thematic analysis was conducted. Two primary themes were identified: 'Here to Help' and 'The Legitimate Recipient'. This article offers a distinct and novel contribution by applying a social identity perspective to foodbank helping transactions, thereby demonstrating how group dynamics and behaviours are integral to these interactions, and by moving beyond the typical 'Social Curse' focus on barriers to help‐seeking to explore how such obstacles may be overcome. Suggestions for addressing stigma‐laden helping transactions and promoting successful delivery of aid are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of literature has highlighted the relationship between group identification (a subjective sense of belonging to one's social group, coupled with a subjective sense of commonality with the group's members) and well‐being. However, little of this work is longitudinal, and few studies address reciprocal causality or control for intensity of contact with fellow group members. Method: We investigated the effect of university identification on satisfaction with life (SWL) over time (and vice versa) in 216 Spanish undergraduates, with seven months between T1 and T2. Results: While greater university identification T1 predicted higher SWL T2, SWL T1 did not predict university identification T2. University contact T1 was unrelated to SWL T2. Conclusions: These results show that university identification impacts positively on SWL over time (rather than SWL impacting positively on university identification over time), and this is not reducible to the effects exerted by university contact. The implications for those who work with students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aim of the study was to investigate the link between social group identification and mental health outcomes in a sample of secondary school pupils. Based on previous work, it was predicted that multiple high group identifications would protect against psychological ill health. Furthermore, it was predicted that better mental health would also predict greater number of group identifications, thus creating a 'virtuous circle'. Design A longitudinal questionnaire design was used. Methods A total of 409 Scottish secondary school pupils aged 13-17 completed a questionnaire twice over a year. Pupils' responses regarding their mental health and the extent of their identification with three groups (the family, school, and friends) were measured. Results A path analysis of the data showed that greater number of high group identifications predicted better mental health outcomes amongst participants. However, better mental health also predicted greater number of high group identifications, suggesting that there is a cyclical relationship between both variables. Conclusions The findings have both theoretical and practical implications. They highlight the importance of conceptualizing the link between group identification and mental health as cyclical, rather than unidirectional. This reconceptualization has implications for mental health promotion strategies, as it highlights the importance of attempting to turn a potentially 'vicious cycle' of social disidentification and mental ill health into a 'virtuous cycle' of social identification and mental health. Practitioner points Results showed that in a population of 409 high school pupils, the more high group identifications pupils had, the better their mental health outcomes., Better mental health also predicted a greater number of high group identifications over time., The findings suggest that we would benefit from conceptualizing the relationship between group identification and mental outcomes as being cyclical rather than unidirectional., Viewing the relationship between group identification and mental health in this way enables us to consider interventions which help turn a 'vicious cycle' into a 'virtuous cycle'., Limitations A potential limitation of the work relates to the use of self-report questionnaires which may elicit socially desirable responses., The sample only consists of high school pupils from mainstream public schools within Scotland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large literature has provided evidence of the social cure: a positive relationship between group identification (a sense of group belonging) and mental wellbeing, commonly measured in terms of levels of depression, anxiety, or stress. However, non-clinical populations may experience other symptoms of mental distress, including paranoia. We hypothesized that since group identification promotes satisfying and supportive relationships (something paranoid individuals appear to lack), there should be a negative relationship between family identification and paranoid ideation. We confirmed this in a cross-sectional study with Cypriot students ( N = 108) and in a two-wave longitudinal study with Spanish students ( N = 206). The second study also revealed that family identification predicts paranoia over time, but not vice versa. These studies are the first to confirm that family identification is a negative predictor of paranoid ideation, and highlight the need to further explore the effects of group identification on psychotic-like symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effect of family identification (one's subjective sense of belonging to and commonality with the family) on self-reported ill-health in 206 Valencian undergraduates, with eight months between Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2). While greater family identification T1 predicted lower ill-health T2, ill-health T1 did not predict family identification T2. Family contact T1 (one's intensity of interaction with family) was unrelated to ill-health T2. This shows that family identification impacts positively on health over time (rather than health impacting positively on family identification over time), and this is not reducible to effects exerted by family contact. These findings indicate that encouraging patients to engage in group activities might produce negligible health gains unless the patient identifies with the group in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the relationship between group identification (with the family, school, and friendship groups) and adolescent health behaviour (smoking, binge drinking, and cannabis use). 1,111 students from 4 Scottish secondary (high) schools completed a questionnaire which included measures of group identification, group contact, health behaviours, and demographic variables. We found that identification with the family and school groups predicted reduced odds of substance use, whereas identification with the friend group predicted increased odds of substance use. Furthermore, the greater the number of social groups with which the participant strongly identified, the lower the odds that he/she participated in negative health behaviours. In contrast, merely having contact (rather than identifying strongly) with these groups increased the odds of participation in these behaviours. We suggest that group identification influences behaviour to the extent that it encourages adherence to group norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Group identification has been shown to be associated with reduced risk of depression, but this research has important limitations. Our aim was to establish a robust link between group identification and depression whilst overcoming previous studies' shortcomings.Methods: 1824 participants, recruited from General Practice throughout Scotland, completed a questionnaire measuring their identification with three groups (family, community, and a group of their choice), as well as their intensity of contact with each group. They also completed a self-rated depression measure and provided demographic information. Their medical records were also accessed to determine if they had been prescribed antidepressants in the previous 6 months.Results: The number of group identifications was associated with both lower self-rated depression and lower odds of having received a prescription for antidepressants, even after controlling for the number of contact-intensive groups, level of education, gender, age, and relationship status.Conclusions: Identifying with multiple groups may help to protect individuals against depression. This highlights the potential importance of social prescriptions, where health professionals encourage a depressed patient to become a member of one or more groups with which the patient believes he/she would be likely to identify. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This paper investigates the interplay between group identification (i.e., the extent to which one has a sense of belonging to a social group, coupled with a sense of commonality with in-group members) and four types of health behaviour, namely physical exercise, smoking, drinking, and diet. Specifically, we propose a positive relationship between one's number of group identifications and healthy behaviour. Design This study is based on the Scottish portion of the data obtained for Wave 1 of the two-wave cross-national Health in Groups project. Totally 1,824 patients from five Scottish general practitioner ( GP) surgeries completed the Wave 1 questionnaire in their homes. Methods Participants completed measures of group identification, group contact, health behaviours, and demographic variables. Results Results demonstrate that the greater the number of social groups with which one identifies, the healthier one's behaviour on any of the four health dimensions considered. Conclusions We believe our results are due to the fact that group identification will generally (1) enhance one's sense of meaning in life, thereby leading one to take more care of oneself, (2) increase one's sense of responsibility towards other in-group members, thereby enhancing one's motivation to be healthy in order to fulfil those responsibilities, and (3) increase compliance with healthy group behavioural norms. Taken together, these processes amply overcompensate for the fact that some groups with which people may identify can actually prescribe unhealthy behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking help from an outgroup can be difficult, especially when the outgroup is known to stereotype the ingroup negatively and the potential recipient cares strongly about its social image. However, we ask whether even highly identified ingroup members may seek help from a judgmental outgroup if doing so allows them to disconfirm the outgroup’s negative stereotype of the ingroup. We presented participants with one of two negative outgroup stereotypes of their ingroup. One could be disconfirmed through seeking help, the other could not. Study 1 (n = 43) showed group members were aware of the strategic implications of seeking help for disconfirming these stereotypes. Study 2 (n = 43) showed high identifiers acted on such strategic knowledge by seeking more help from the outgroup when help-seeking could disconfirm a negative stereotype of their group (than when it could not). Implications for the seeking and acceptance of help are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research on social integration and mental health operationalizes social integration as frequency of interactions and participation in social activities (i.e., social contact). This neglects the subjective dimension of social integration, namely group identification. We present two studies comparing the effect exerted by social contact and group identification on mental health (e.g., depression, stress) across two different groups (family; army unit), demonstrating that group identification predicts mental health better than social contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]