Abstract
The Social Identity Approach to Health holds that groups provide us with a sense of meaning and belonging, and that these identity processes have a significant positive impact on our health and wellbeing. Typically, research drawing from the social identity approach with adolescents has focused on the benefits of existing group memberships. Here, using a sail-training intervention, we investigated the impact of providing adolescents with a new group (i.e., a new social identity) on psychological resilience. Across two studies, we demonstrate the benefits of a new social identity, in terms of increases in psychological resilience, flow predominantly to those adolescents who report the lowest levels of resilience at the start of the voyage. We discuss our findings in relation to the social identity approach and adolescent identity development more generally.
Highlights
One of the primary tasks of adolescence is to find an answer to the question: “Who am I?” On the surface, this question might seem relatively straightforward
The third factor, re-consideration of commitment, involves comparing current commitments with potential alternatives. When combined, these three factors allow us to think of an adolescent at any given time as being in one of two identity cycles: identity formation or identity maintenance [2, 3]
Research drawing from the social identity approach with adolescents has focused on the benefits of existing group memberships [23, 25,26,27,28]
Summary
One of the primary tasks of adolescence is to find an answer to the question: “Who am I?” On the surface, this question might seem relatively straightforward. Rubini, and Meeus’ [1] three-factor model of personal identity development provides a relatively simple way of capturing these processes. The second factor, in-depth exploration, captures the degree to which individuals reflect on the various commitments they have enacted. The third factor, re-consideration of commitment, involves comparing current commitments with potential alternatives. When combined, these three factors allow us to think of an adolescent at any given time as being in one of two identity cycles: identity formation (a combination of commitment and reconsideration) or identity maintenance (a combination of commitment and in-depth exploration) [2, 3]. Capturing personal identity development, and the cycles therein, what this model neglects is the central role that social
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