Conflict, fear and social identity in Nagaland

Abstract

This survey study tested the effects of exposure to ethnopolitical conflict and violence and social group identification on psychosocial well-being among a sample of Nagas (n = 280). Nagaland is located in Northeast India, and for decades has suffered from armed conflict and political instability. It was predicted that reported exposure to conflict would be positively associated with reported levels of fear, which in turn would decrease psychosocial well-being (assessed with the indices life satisfaction, self-esteem and general health). It was also expected that strongly identifying with being Naga would be positively related to perceived levels of social support, which in turn were predicted to be positively related to well-being. Last but not least, it was hypothesized that conflict and fear would also directly and negatively impact on levels of identification with being Naga: increased conflict-induced fear was expected to reduce the strength of the group identification. These predictions were confirmed by structural equation modelling.

Family Roles, Family Dysfunction, and Depressive Symptoms

“…Depressive symptoms were measured with 12 items similar to those used in Zagefka and Jamir (2015; six reversed, 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree ). Example items are “Have you recently been able to concentrate on what you were doing?” “Have you recently lost much sleep over worry?” and “Have you recently felt that you are playing a useful part in things?” (reversed), α = .88.…”

Antecedents of intra/intergroup friendships and stress levels among ethnic and religious minority members

“…The only noteworthy difference between the results for Studies 1 and 2 was the path from minority identification to stress—this was negative for Muslim women, but non‐significant for Somalis. As we have speculated elsewhere (Zagefka & Jamir, ), whether a minority identity is fit to buffer against stress might depend on the extent to which the identity is imbued with negativity. Of course, African Americans are undoubtedly potential victims of discrimination (Branscombe et al, ).…”

“…Moreover, Giamo, Schmitt, and Outten () found that only certain facets of identification (but not others) enhance well‐being. In one of our own studies, we failed to confirm the protective properties of identification for a sample of Naga (Zagefka & Jamir, ). We speculated that this might have been the case because Naga identity is imbued with even more negativity, disadvantage and stigma than African American identity, which the rejection‐identification model originally focussed on.…”

“…Of course, African Americans are undoubtedly potential victims of discrimination (Branscombe et al, ). However, it is possible that this is the case to a lesser extent than for groups who have to fear random and unpredictable threats to their lives in the context of civil war (like the Naga; Zagefka & Jamir, ), and it is possible that Somali identity, too, is imbued with more negativity than African American or Muslim identity. As outlined above, Somalis in the UK are extremely deprived.…”

Combining Motherhood and Work: Effects of Dual Identity and Identity Conflict on Well-Being

“…A range of other psychological needs can also be fulfilled by being a member of social groups (Capozza et al, 2006;Vignoles et al, 2006). By and large, identification with social groups has consistently been linked to greater well-being in Western settings (Branscombe et al, 1999) and beyond (Zagefka & Jamir, 2015).…”