Multiple group membership supports resilience and growth in response to violence and abuse

Abstract

This paper examines the role that social group processes, and multiple group membership in particular, play in supporting resilience and post-traumatic growth following the experience of violence and abuse. Drawing on social identity theorizing, we develop and test a model that (a) predicts an association between multiple group membership and positive outcomes of resilience and post-traumatic growth, and (b) explores mechanisms, of personal control and identification with anti-violence activists, through which group membership might exert this effect. This model was tested using data from a sample of predominantly White South African adults recruited through numerous sources including a nongovernment organisation that supports victims of violence and abuse (N = 112). Results showed that multiple group membership was positively related to posttraumatic growth and provided a basis for enhanced personal control and identification with activists. Personal control also mediated the relationship between multiple group membership and resilience. We discuss the implications for theory and practice and suggest there is value in working with social group memberships following trauma to support recovery.

Multiple teams, multiple projects, multiple groups at the intersection of (multiple) research fields: A bibliometric study

“…The main topics encompassed here are the effects of being part of multiple social groups on individuals' (mental) health and well-being (e.g., Bule and Frings, 2015;Kinsella et al, 2020;Gallagher et al, 2021;Rees et al, 2022) or cognitive processing and performance (e.g., Woods et al, 2018;Beadleston et al, 2019). Furthermore, it also covers multiple group membership in relation to other social psychology themes, such as self-esteem (Jetten et al, 2015), aging (Ysseldyk et al, 2013), divorce (Lampraki et al, 2019), resilience in violence and abuse (Haslam et al, 2022), and protest (Besta et al, 2019). This cluster did not emerge in the first citation analysis, very likely due to the fact that the papers included in this cluster do not connect well with the other papers from the other clusters and hence were excluded from the sample used for the network.…”

“…The most frequently used keyword is "multiple group membership", which represents the extent to which an individual is part of multiple social groups (e.g., community groups; sports groups) (Gallagher et al, 2021). The Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979;Tajfel, 1982) and also Self-Categorization Theory (Turner et al, 1987) that explain how membership in various social groups (family, community, religious, sporting) shape social identity or the way in which we develop our sense of self and we derive self-esteem from these memberships (Haslam et al, 2022). Multiple group membership benefits the health and well-being of individuals because they have access to multiple social identities that keep them connected to other people, provide structure and meaning to social relationships (Greenaway et al, 2016).…”

What Does it Mean to be a Woman? How the Content of Gender Identity May Facilitate Women’s Coping with Sexual Harassment

“…Indeed, women who have experienced GBD report greater awareness of its prevalence and increased desire to help other survivors (Valentine et al, 2017). Additionally, researchers have found that identifying as an activist is associated with greater post-traumatic growth following experiences of GBD (C. Haslam et al, 2021), which suggests that emphasising collective action norms in response to victimisation may facilitate trajectories of growth. A clear direction for future research would therefore be to consider the effect of historical sexual victimisation on appraisal of present or hypothetical GBD.…”

“…Instead, we see this as evidence for a broader 'social cure' (cf. C. Haslam et al, 2018): closely held and salient social identities provide a sense of agency and facilitate collective action (Greenaway et al, 2015;C. Haslam et al, 2021).…”

Sexual violence and traumatic identity change: Evidence of collective post‐traumatic growth

“…A growing body of research shows group memberships can drive personal PTG (Griffin et al., 2022; Muldoon et al., 2017). In women who have experienced gender‐based violence in South Africa, for example, positive responses (including PTG) were facilitated by prior group membership, which acted as a platform for enhanced feelings of personal control and identification (Haslam et al., 2022). These findings are consistent with previous work that demonstrated involvement in anti‐sexual assault activism promoted PTG (Strauss Swanson & Szymanski, 2020).…”