Won't you be my neighbor? Local community identification predicted decreased stress over the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Social identities are an important resource, especially during times of crisis. They provide shared meaning, as well as access to social and instrumental support. The COVID‐19 pandemic, although global in nature, was experienced very locally; many people stopped traveling and were often confined to their homes and neighborhoods. We reasoned this would make American residents' local community identities especially important. We collected data at five time points between April 2020 and March 2021 and measured American adults' social identification with their local community, identification with a self‐nominated important group, and stress. We found that stress decreased over the first few months of the pandemic, then leveled out. Importantly, this decrease was more pronounced among people who strongly identified with their local communities. Furthermore, community identities were stronger predictors of stress decreases than social groups that respondents themselves nominated as highly important to them (e.g., family, friends). These results held controlling for age, gender, political conservatism, and other variables. This research provides important insights into the importance of social identities, and specifically local communities, during times of crisis.

Psychology and social cohesion.

“…In communities without strong relationships or solidarity, however, people are more vulnerable to exploitation by others. This is a stressful state to live in, which may be among the reasons why low social cohesion is linked to higher levels of mortality (Kawachi & Berkman, 2000) and increased levels of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ungson et al, 2023).…”