A trouble shared is a trouble halved: The role of family identification and identification with humankind in well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Svenja B Frenzel,Rolf Van Dick,Nina M Junker,S Alexander Haslam,Valerie A Schury,Ines Meyer,Lucas Monzani,Lorenzo Avanzi,Andreas Mojzisch,Dina Van Dijk,Llewellyn E Van Zyl,Adil Samekin,Jan A Häusser,Niklas K Steffens,Ronit Kark,Stephen Reicher,Liliya Sultanova,Aidos Bolatov

doi:10.1111/bjso.12470

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has triggered health‐related anxiety in ways that undermine peoples’ mental and physical health. Contextual factors such as living in a high‐risk area might further increase the risk of health deterioration. Based on the Social Identity Approach, we argue that social identities can not only be local that are characterized by social interactions, but also be global that are characterized by a symbolic sense of togetherness and that both of these can be a basis for health. In line with these ideas, we tested how identification with one’s family and with humankind relates to stress and physical symptoms while experiencing health‐related anxiety and being exposed to contextual risk factors. We tested our assumptions in a representative sample (N = 974) two‐wave survey study with a 4‐week time lag. The results show that anxiety at Time 1 was positively related to stress and physical symptoms at Time 2. Feeling exposed to risk factors related to lower physical health, but was unrelated to stress. Family identification and identification with humankind were both negatively associated with subsequent stress and family identification was negatively associated with subsequent physical symptoms. These findings suggest that for social identities to be beneficial for mental health, they can be embodied as well as symbolic.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered health-related anxiety in ways that undermine peoples’ mental and physical health
Based on the Social Identity Approach, we argue that social identities can be local that are characterized by social interactions, and be global that are characterized by a symbolic sense of togetherness and that both of these can be a basis for health
This study contributes to the existing literature by providing essential insights on the relationship between social identification and mental and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered health-related anxiety in ways that undermine peoples’ mental and physical health. A trouble shared is a trouble halved 3 groups even if they are physically separate from other group members (Khan, Garnett, Hult Khazaie, Liu, & Gil de Zun~iga, 2020) On this basis, the present two-wave study examines the associations between family identification and identification with humankind with stress and physical ill-health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. By contrast, identifying as part of humankind implies a more symbolic feeling of ‘being in this pandemic together’ with many group members never meeting and interacting with each other (cf., Anderson, 1991; Khan et al, 2020) Both forms of identification allow testing if social identification of a direct or symbolic nature is negatively related to stress and physical ill-health symptoms

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