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

Frenzel S.B. Junker N.M. Avanzi L. Bolatov A. Haslam S.A. Häusser J.A. Kark R. Meyer I. Mojzisch A. Monzani L. Reicher S. Samekin A. Schury V.A. Steffens N.K. Sultanova L. Van Dijk D. van Zyl L.E. Van Dick R.
January 2022 John Wiley and Sons Ltd

British Journal of Social Psychology
2022 #61 Issue 1 55 - 82 pp.

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.

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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 Business, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
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, United Kingdom
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
Human Performance Management, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
Department of HRM, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

Department of Social Psychology
Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science
Department of Biochemistry
School of Psychology
Department of Social Psychology
Department of Psychology
School of Business
School of Management Studies
Department of Psychology
Ivey Business School
School of Psychology and Neuroscience
Department of Psychology of Religion and Pedagogy
Department of Psychology
Department of Health Systems Management
Human Performance Management
Optentia Research Focus Area
Department of HRM

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