Comparing Social Contact and Group Identification as Predictors of Mental Health
Fabio Sani
a,
Marina Herrera
b,
Juliet R. H. Wakefield
a
School of Psychology, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
b Department of Psychology, University of Valencia, Spain.
Introduction and Aim
Greater
social
integration
(active
engagement in social activities) is linked to
better
mental
health.
However,
researchers have often measured social
integration by asking participants about
their social contact (e.g., how often they
see other members of their group). This
neglects the fact that we do not just talk to
other group members: we also establish
psychological links with them. Group
identification describes our subjective
sense of belonging to the group and of
commonality with other ingroup members.
Research has shown that strong group
identification promotes a sense of stability
and perceived social support. Such
outcomes are likely to be beneficial for
mental health. These observations suggest
that group identification should be
associated with better mental health, and a
growing body of literature supports this
theory. However, it is important to examine
the separate effects of group identification
and social contact on mental health, to
discover the extent to which the effects of
group identification are independent from
the effects of social contact. We wish to
show that group identification is not simply
a by-product of social contact, and that it
plays an important role in affecting mental
health in its own right.
a,
Olga Boroch
a,
Published in: British Journal of Social Psychology, 2012.
Study 1- The Family
Study 2- The Army Unit
To explore this issue, we started with a
study assessing the unique effects of both
contact with members of the family group
and family identification on mental health.
Study 1 suggests that family identification
is more beneficial to health that mere
contact with family members. To show that
these findings are not only applicable to
the family group, we replicated the study
using an army unit: a type of group that
places great importance on contact
between group members.
194 Polish people (85 males) completed a
questionnaire. We measured their family
identification and their social contact with
family members (how many family
members they saw/spoke to at least once
every two weeks). We also assessed how
depressed and how stressed the
participants were, and measured their
satisfaction with life. Finally, we asked
participants to tell us their age and level of
education.
Results
Social identification and social contact
were found to correlate with each other,
but only modestly. In order to examine the
extent to which the different measures
predicted participants’ mental health, we
performed regression analyses. This
revealed that the extent of participants’
family identification predicted the extent of
their depression, stress and satisfaction
with life. High levels of identification were
found to reduce depression and stress and
to increase satisfaction with life. The extent
of participants’ social contact with family
members only predicted the extent of their
satisfaction with life, with high levels of
social contact increasing satisfaction with
life. The extent of participants’ group
identification combined with the extent of
their social contact predicted the extent of
their depression, stress and satisfaction
with life, even after age and education
were controlled for.
& Csilla Gulyas
a
150 members of an army unity from an
Eastern European country (102 males)
completed a questionnaire. We measured
their army identification and their social
contact with army members (how many
army members they saw/spoke to each
day and the number of army social events
they attended in an average month). We
also assessed how depressed the
participants were, and measured their job
satisfaction and satisfaction with life.
Finally, we asked participants to tell us
their age and army rank.
Results
Social identification and social contact
were found to correlate with each other,
but only modestly. Regression analyses
revealed
that
participants’
army
identification predicted the extent of their
depression,
job
satisfaction
and
satisfaction with life. High levels of
identification were found to reduce
depression and to increase job satisfaction
and satisfaction with life. The extent of
participants’ social contact with family
members only predicted the extent of their
job satisfaction, with high levels of social
contact increasing job satisfaction. The
extent of participants’ group identification
combined with the extent of their social
contact predicted the extent of their
satisfaction with life and job satisfaction,
even after age and army rank were
controlled for.
Discussion
Across two social groups we found that
measures of group identification and
traditional measures of social integration
based on social contact were only
modestly related, and that group
identification was better than social contact
at predicting mental health. These findings
imply that the effects of group identification
on mental health cannot be explained by
social contact: group identification has
important effects on mental health in its
own right. In comparison, social contact
appears to have relatively modest unique
effects on mental health. This may be
(partly) explained by the fact that some
instances of social contact can be mentally
harmful (e.g., contact which leads to
feelings of being judged and a lack of
acceptance). Our findings suggest that it
would be wrong to assume that active
participation in group activities will
automatically improve people’s health: the
contact must contribute to enhancing
group identification.
For More Information:
Email Prof. Fabio Sani: f.sani@dundee.ac.uk