New social identities in Ukrainian ‘refugees’: A social cure or social curse?

Abstract

Experiencing traumatic events often drives profound post-traumatic stress (PTS), but trauma also has the potential to engender positive consequences, such as post-traumatic growth (PTG). Traumatic experiences may also lead to gaining new identities which can have both protective (i.e., social cure) or damaging (i.e., social curse) effects on health and well-being. This study aims to examine the role of new social identities and related social identity resources acquired after war-related experiences (i.e., identification with a new host society and identification as a refugee) in contributing to different trauma trajectories. The sample included 468 participants who left Ukraine due to the war that commenced on February 24th, 2022, and became residents of Ireland or Poland. The findings indicate that identification with the host society was associated with lower PTS and greater PTG. Whereas identification with refugees was related to higher PTS, but it was not directly associated with PTG. Further, the psychological resources derived from these new identities mediated the relationship between identification strength and PTG. This study offers practical insights for interventions targeting refugees in their new countries of residence.