Community group membership protects the well‐being of adults experiencing socio‐economic disadvantage

Haslam, Catherine; Cruwys, Tegan; Chang, Melissa Xue‐Ling; Eckley, Bethany; Buckingham, Heather; Channon, Elizabeth

doi:10.1002/casp.2453

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Aside from the family and the nation, residential community is one of the most influential social groups for many people. Due to the many social categorizations shared among residents, it affords the development of multiple group memberships (Haslam et al., 2020 ), while at the same time, the range of social, economic, political, and environmental factors affecting local communities means that these groups often need to be strong social psychological units to allow coordinated coping (Fong, Cruwys, Haslam, & Haslam, 2019 ; Stevenson et al., 2019 ). In effect, local community can be a rich source of group support (Heath, Rabinovich, & Barreto, 2017 ; McNamara, Stevenson, & Muldoon, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being

McNamara

Stevenson

Costa

et al. 2021

British J Social Psychol

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Levels of loneliness across the world have reached epidemic proportions, and their impact upon population health is increasingly apparent. In response, policies and initiatives have attempted to reduce loneliness by targeting social isolation among residents of local communities. Yet, little is known about the social psychological processes underpinning the relationships between community belonging, loneliness, and well-being. We report three studies which apply the Social Identity Approach to Health to examine the mechanisms underpinning the relationships between community identity, health, and loneliness. Hypotheses were tested through secondary analyses of the 2014-2015 UK Community Life Survey (N = 4,314) as well as bespoke household surveys in a more (N = 408) and less (N = 143) affluent community at high risk of loneliness. Studies 1 and 2a demonstrated that the relationship between community identification and well-being was mediated by increased social support and reduced loneliness. In Study 2b, community identification predicted well-being through reduced loneliness, but not through social support. Our results are the first to evidence these relationships and suggest that community-level interventions that enhance community identification and peer support can promote a potential Social Cure for loneliness.International surveys of population health have shown that loneliness poses a threat to health as severe as that of smoking and obesity (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, Baker, Harris, & Stephenson, 2015;Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010). This has prompted the creation of public health initiatives to understand and tackle loneliness within the context of local communities. These typically identify poor community cohesion and integration as contributing factors to loneliness and increased social integration as part of the solution.However, such policies are rarely grounded in an in-depth understanding of the complex relationships between community belonging, loneliness, and health. SocialThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being

McNamara

Stevenson

Costa

et al. 2021

British J Social Psychol

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“…Despite the consistency in evidence regarding the value of groups, there is also variability in the strength of the link between groups and well-being. Group memberships are more strongly associated with psychological well-being for certain groups of people, such as those with low socio-economic status (Haslam et al, 2020;Wang, Yang, Hu, & Chen, 2021). Similarly, whereas membership in community groups is linked to a reduction in symptoms of depression, this association is particularly strong among those with clinical diagnoses related to depression (Cruwys et al, 2013).…”

Section: Community-based Small Group Membershipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Age-Varying Associations among Group Memberships, Neighborhood Connectedness, and Well-Being

Evans,

Li,

Benson

2023

Can. J. Aging

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Individuals who maintain group memberships in their community tend to experience improved well-being relative to those who participate in few or no groups. There are, however, few investigations targeting variability in the correlates of group membership across the lifespan. The present examination probed age-related variability in the association between group memberships and subjective connectedness as well as well-being. Participants included 3,940 (mean age = 45.61 years, standard deviation [SD] = 15.62) Canadian and American respondents who completed an online survey during August of 2020 (i.e., amidst the COVID-19 pandemic). Time-varying effects modelling was used to estimate coefficients for group membership at each age within the sample. Memberships in social groups positively predicted connectedness, and this association was strongest in middle-to-older age; a similar association was also evident when predicting well-being. Connectedness was also a positive predictor of well-being throughout most ages. These findings build on emerging research conveying how group memberships have significance for people currently in middle-to-older age.

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“…Thus, positive and frequent contact with other group members can serve to scaffold the development of group identification within community settings and indirectly benefit health through identification and related social support (see also Sani et al, 2012). Prior studies conducted in a community context have indicated the role of social participation in scaffolding community identification such that there are benefits of interacting with others due to the resultant increase in community identification (Fong et al, 2021; Haslam et al, 2020). Furthermore, Bowe et al (2020) reported that the effect of community volunteering on volunteers' wellbeing was serially mediated through community identification and social support.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intragroup contact with other mothers living in the same neighborhood benefits mothers' life satisfaction: The mediating role of group identification and social support

Seppälä

Riikonen

Stevenson

et al. 2022

Journal Community Psychology

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Community group membership protects the well‐being of adults experiencing socio‐economic disadvantage

Cited by 8 publications

References 16 publications

Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being

Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being

Modelling Age-Varying Associations among Group Memberships, Neighborhood Connectedness, and Well-Being

Intragroup contact with other mothers living in the same neighborhood benefits mothers' life satisfaction: The mediating role of group identification and social support

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