Group Belongingness Research Articles

Why We Need Diverse Methods for Assessing Cultural Identity: Introduction to the Special Issue

In this introduction to the special issue on diverse methods for cultural identity, we begin by addressing the evolving complexities of defining oneself amidst modern globalization and immigration. We then preview the current collection of papers, which collectively showcase the complexity of cultural identity by exploring how people, especially adolescents and young adults, navigate a plethora of cultural influences—whether through direct migration or the pervasive impact of global cultures—as they psychologically manage diverse and sometimes conflicting allegiances and worldviews. The studies featured in this issue employ a range of methodologies, from qualitative analyses to mixed-methods approaches, to expand our knowledge of the constitution of contemporary cultural identities beyond common quantitative metrics of self-categorization and group belongingness. For instance, research on Jamaican American adolescents highlights how cultural identity is formed through reciprocal socialization processes and systemic factors such as racism. Similarly, studies involving Hmong American youth and Guatemalan adolescents reveal tensions and creative harmonizations in identity management, challenging notions of a homogenized global culture. We conclude by underscoring the need for future research to take a nuanced, intersectional approach to the study of cultural identity, to explore creative measurement tools that are sensitive to local meaning-making among diverse groups around the world, and to attend to the impact of power dynamics in shaping one’s sense of self in relation to their cultural group(s).

Group Belongingness: Investigating the Formation, Maintenance, and Influencing Factors of Social Identity and Group Membership

This paper explores the concept of group belongingness and investigates the formation, maintenance, and influencing factors of social identity and group membership. Drawing upon social identity theory, the paper examines the processes involved in the formation of social identity, including social categorization, social identification, and social comparison. It also explores the various factors that influence the formation of social identity, such as personal characteristics, group characteristics, and the social context. Additionally, the paper discusses the importance of maintaining social identity and group membership, as well as the challenges and barriers to this maintenance. Furthermore, it examines the individual, group, and societal factors that influence social identity and group membership. The paper also delves into the different research methods used to investigate social identity and group membership, including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Finally, the implications and applications of understanding group belongingness are discussed, along with future research directions. The findings highlight the significance of fostering group belongingness for individuals and society as a whole.

When work bothers your mind: a diary study on the relationship of German teachers’ work-related rumination with fatigue

This study investigated the association of school attendance restrictions in the early stages of the coronavirus disease pandemic with teacher-specific workload, and work-related rumination of teachers in Germany. Deduced from the effort-recovery model, that assumes that work might lead to strain reactions, making recovery necessary to avoid long-term health impairments, fatigue and positive as well as negative contents of work-related rumination in nonwork time were investigated in a five-day diary study with three measurement points per day. A total of 1,697 daily measures of 174 teachers were gathered over three consecutive workdays and the weekend. Only those days were included in which the teachers worked. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that teachers during school restrictions showed lower teacher-specific workload, which was associated with lower levels of affective rumination and problem-solving pondering. The effect on fatigue was mediated only by affective rumination such that a higher affective rumination was related to a higher fatigue level on the between and within-level. There was a significant three-path mediation from group belongingness over teacher-specific workload to affective rumination and fatigue. Problem-solving pondering did not affect fatigue level. The present study provides evidence of the association of COVID-19 restrictions with teacher-specific workload and the importance of differentiating the facets of work-related rumination.

Feasibility of a Supervised Virtual Exercise Program for Women on Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer

ABSTRACT Introduction/Purpose Adjuvant endocrine therapy significantly improves survival in women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer and is typically administered for 5 yr or longer. Adverse treatment side effects, including arthralgias, reduce treatment adherence and physical activity levels. Aerobic and resistance exercise is one strategy to decrease treatment side effects and improve treatment adherence. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of a virtually delivered exercise program for women receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy as part of breast cancer treatment. Methods This is a single-arm pilot study with recruitment by self-referral or oncologist referral of female breast cancer survivors. To adapt to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions, a supervised strength and aerobic group exercise program was delivered virtually twice weekly via Zoom over 6 wk. Feasibility was evaluated based on a priori targets specific to program recruitment (>30% recruitment ratio), transition to virtual delivery (>75%), attendance (>70% virtual session attendance), attrition (<30% dropout), and fidelity of group belongingness (average score ≥15 on belongingness questionnaire) at the end of the program. Physical function (30-s chair stand test), quality of life RAND Short-Form 36-item test, and medication adherence (Voils Domains of Subjective Extent of Nonadherence) were assessed at baseline and 6 wk. Results A total of 24 participants completed the program. All feasibility measures were met. Statistically significant changes were found in physical function (P < 0.001), self-reported energy/fatigue (P < 0.001), emotional well-being (P < 0.001), and pain (P = 0.01). There was also a positive trend toward improvement in patient-reported medication adherence (17%). Conclusion A 6-wk supervised strength and aerobic group exercise intervention delivered virtually was feasible and improved physical function, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being, and pain. The trend toward improvement in adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy should be explored further. These findings provide preliminary data to inform a future appropriately powered trial on exercise and physical function using a virtual platform that has the potential for greater reach.

Media Contributions to a Chesapeake Bay Watershed Collective Identity? A Tale of Three Cities.

Although collective action is needed to address many environmental challenges, it cannot proceed in the absence of collective identity, that is, evidence of group belongingness expressed in or via communicative behavior. This study looked for evidence of a collective identity in newspaper articles that referenced the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The data were drawn from local papers published in municipalities located at the headwaters of the Susquehanna River, midway down the Susquehanna, and where the river meets the Bay. Computerized content analysis assessed the frequency with which the Chesapeake Bay and watershed were mentioned alongside a set of keywords thought to represent different facets of identity (e.g., agriculture, fishing, swimming). The results showed substantial variation in frequency across time and place but low absolute levels of coverage of the Bay and the watershed. Multidimensional scaling revealed different structures to collective identity as a function of place. These differences in content may be attributable to varying demographic and environmental characteristics along with proximity to the Bay. But, to the extent that media contribute to collective identity among residents of the watershed at all, they do so in a complex and heterogeneous manner.

Assessing cultural intelligence of adolescents in relation to their personality traits, communication style, value orientation and perceived parenting style

Nowadays youth are fascinated towards various job offerings that leads to increased global mobility in turn had high possibilities of cultural conflicts. Cultural intelligence is an essential aspect to uplift individual’s flexibility and stability across culture. Generally, individuals expressed their cultural intelligence through its psycho social determinants such as personality traits, communication styles, value orientation and perceived parenting styles which were theoretically interlinked as well as a sense of group belongingness initiated during adolescence. Therefore, an attempt is made here to explore the relationships between cultural intelligence, personality traits, communication styles, value orientation and perceived parenting styles among adolescents. Cluster sampling technique was used to select the participants. A survey was conducted with 480 adolescents in and around Salem city was collected. Results revealed that introvert/ambivert adolescents experiencing positive parenting, exhibit higher value orientation and communication were predicted to have higher cultural intelligence. This study would be helpful for teachers to understand adolescents’ individual differences and accordingly modify their teaching behaviour. Imparting cultural intelligence among adolescents would heighten the sense of group belongingness, that show drastic effects in future global economy.

Bringing Us Closer Together: The Influence of National Identity and Political Orientation on COVID-19-Related Behavioral Intentions.

A growing body of work has highlighted the importance of political beliefs and attitudes in predicting endorsement and engagement in prosocial behavior. Individuals with right-wing political orientation are less likely to behave prosocially than their left-wing counterparts due to high levels of Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Here, we aimed to extend prior work by testing how political values relate to COVID-19 discretionary behavioral intentions (i.e., prosocial and non-mandatory behaviors aimed at controlling the spread of the pandemic). Furthermore, we tested whether identification with the national group would influence the relationship between RWA and prosocial behavior. A cross-sectional study conducted on 350 Italian participants showed that right-wing political orientation had a negative effect on COVID-19 discretionary behavioral intentions via RWA. Furthermore, a moderated mediation model revealed that this effect was only significant for participants who are lowly identified with the national group. The results suggest that highlighting group belongingness might effectively motivate more conservative individuals to engage in prosocial behavior.

Science through a tribal lens: A group-based account of polarization over scientific facts

Previous research has confirmed the prominent role of group processes in the promotion and endorsement of disinformation. We report three studies on a psychological framework derived from integrated threat theory—a psychological theory which describes how perceived threat leads to group polarization and prejudice—composed of the following constructs: group belongingness, perceived threat, outgroup derogation, and intergroup anxiety. Our pilot study suggested that need to belong and intergroup anxiety predict antiscientific beliefs (pseudoscientific, paranormal, and conspiracy theories), thus justifying the general applicability of integrated threat theory. Study 1 investigates the transition from weak to strong critical thinking regarding pseudoscientific doctrines. Besides greater outgroup derogation and perceived threats among strong critical thinkers, the model does not perform well in this context. Study 2 focuses on the intergroup conflict around anthropogenic global warming, revealing the strong predictive power of the model. These results are discussed in relation to the distinctive psychological profiles of science acceptance and rejection.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Observed Adolescent Text-Based Sexting and Adjustment.

Despite strong concerns that sexting poses risks for adolescents' well-being, previous research finds mixed results. Moreover, these studies rely heavily on self-report measures and cross-sectional designs. This study utilizes observational methods to examine longitudinal relations between text-based sexting and both negative and positive indicators of psychosocial adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 197 adolescents was provided smartphones that captured their text messages across high school, from 2008-2012. Two, two-day samples of text messages from grades 9-12 were content-coded (468,201 total observations). Sexting was defined as sending and receiving text-based statements about past, present, or hypothetical sexual behaviors occurring between dyadic texting partners. Each year, adolescents reported on negative (internalizing, externalizing, and social problems; borderline personality features) and positive (life satisfaction, group belongingness, and positive self-perceptions) indicators of their psychosocial adjustment. Using concurrent and longitudinal multilevel models, greater sexting at one time point than one's average (within-person) was only associated with lower levels of group belongingness within the same year. For girls only, text-based sexting more than others on average (between-person) was related to increased externalizing symptoms and borderline personality disorder features, as well as decreased life satisfaction, group belongingness, self-perceived social competence, and global self-worth. No within-person differences by gender emerged, nor did longitudinal associations. Future studies and intervention efforts should examine when and why higher sexting might be related to psychosocial problems among girls.

Videoconference fatigue? Exploring changes in fatigue after videoconference meetings during COVID-19.

In response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global health pandemic, many employees transitioned to remote work, which included remote meetings. With this sudden shift, workers and the media began discussing videoconference fatigue, a potentially new phenomenon of feeling tired and exhausted attributed to a videoconference. In the present study, we examine the nature of videoconference fatigue, when this phenomenon occurs, and what videoconference characteristics are associated with fatigue using a mixed-methods approach. Thematic analysis of qualitative responses indicates that videoconference fatigue exists, often in near temporal proximity to the videoconference, and is affected by various videoconference characteristics. Quantitative data were collected each hour during five workdays from 55 employees who were working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Latent growth modeling results suggest that videoconferences at different times of the day are related to deviations in employee fatigue beyond what is expected based on typical fatigue trajectories. Results from multilevel modeling of 279 videoconference meetings indicate that turning off the microphone and having higher feelings of group belongingness are related to lower postvideoconference fatigue. Additional analyses suggest that higher levels of group belongingness are the most consistent protective factor against videoconference fatigue. Such findings have immediate practical implications for workers and organizations as they continue to navigate the still relatively new terrain of remote work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Group Belongingness and Redistribution Preference: A Survey Experiment in Japan

Group Belongingness and Redistribution Preference: A Survey Experiment in Japan

A review explanatory effects of self & group-orientations on acculturative stress and belongingness

The problem of being accepted in a cognitively culturally distant setting at a new institute presents difficulties for the person, both mentally and socially, with the experience of acculturation or subsequent adaptation to the new atmosphere being the most prominent. This research adds to the acculturation literature by integrating components that are important for people who are severely to moderately stressed when they meet a new institutional culture and therefore need to find a reference group to deal with the acculturative stress levels. The impact of self-verification, state self-esteem, or group-related variables like resemblance to others and reliance on others on the desire for reference group belongingness during acculturation is thoroughly investigated. The findings show that for stressed people, the desire to belong to a group is heightened as a consequence of a decrease in present self-esteem and a concurrent need to self-verify. Individuals also consider resemblance to other members of the reference group to be unimportant, while reliance on the reference group is crucial.

A review explanatory effects of self & group-orientations on acculturative stress and belongingness

The problem of being accepted in a cognitively culturally distant setting at a new institute presents difficulties for the person, both mentally and socially, with the experience of acculturation or subsequent adaptation to the new atmosphere being the most prominent. This research adds to the acculturation literature by integrating components that are important for people who are severely to moderately stressed when they meet a new institutional culture and therefore need to find a reference group to deal with the acculturative stress levels. The impact of self-verification, state self-esteem, or group-related variables like resemblance to others and reliance on others on the desire for reference group belongingness during acculturation is thoroughly investigated. The findings show that for stressed people, the desire to belong to a group is heightened as a consequence of a decrease in present self-esteem and a concurrent need to self-verify. Individuals also consider resemblance to other members of the reference group to be unimportant, while reliance on the reference group is crucial.

The effect of square dance on family cohesion and subjective well-being of middle-aged and empty-nest women in China

Researchers in this study aimed to examine the effect of square dance on the subjective well-being of middle-aged and empty-nest women, as well as the potential moderating role of group belongingness in the relationship between family cohesion and subjective well-being. A total of 331 middle-aged and empty-nest Chinese women participated in a survey to measure their family adaptability and cohesion, group belongingness, general well-being, and square-dancing participation information. The results were found as follows: (a) Chinese middle-aged and empty-nest women’s family cohesion was positively associated with subjective well-being, and their group belongingness in square dance was positively associated with subjective well-being; (b) participation in square dance can be the moderator the relationship between family cohesion and subjective well-being; (c) group belongingness was found to be a moderator in the relationship between family cohesion and subjective well-being.

Ventral Caudate and Anterior Insula Recruitment During Value Estimation of Passionate Rewarding Cues.

“Wanting”, a component of reward processing, is a motivational property that guides decision making in goal-oriented behavior. This includes behavior aiming at supporting relational bonds, even at the group level. Accordingly, group belongingness works as this motivational property, which is fundamentally different from romantic or maternal love. While primary rewards (or learned associations, such as money) have been largely used to study the conceptual framework associated with “wanting,” other cues triggering behavior, such as passionate motives, are less well-studied. We investigated the neural correlates of value estimation of a passion-driven incentive in neuropsychologically defined football fans. We asked the participants (n = 57) to compute the value of football tickets (the cues that trigger passionate behavior in this “tribal love” context). The trials were all different, comprising tickets for different matches. The participants had no restrictions on the amount to be introduced. This enabled a parametric functional magnetic resonance imaging design based on the explicit estimated value given by the participants in a trial-by-trial approach. Using a whole-brain approach (to prevent biased focus on value-related regions), only the activity in the ventral caudate and left anterior insula showed a critical relationship with the reported value. Higher normalized values led to more activity in the striatum and left insula. The parametric map shows that these regions encode the magnitude of incentive by indexing self-relevant value. Other regions were involved in value computation, such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, but did not exhibit parametric patterns. The involvement of the nucleus accumbens in value estimation was only found in region of interest -based analysis, which emphasizes the role of the ventral caudate for the presently studied social “reinforcer” cue.

Spam Audit Detection Through Content Analysis

Nowadays e-commerce has gained recognition in day to day life; hence network became tremendous source for gathering customer reviews/opinions by marketplace analyzers. The count of user reviews that merchandise receives is increasing at high velocity. Opinions being posted on social media differ significantly in superiority. The client needs to essentially go through all reviews regardless of their superiority and decide whether to purchase or not purchase the manufactured goods. The main difficulty in obtainable study on opinion assessment is that all opinions are considered regardless of the implication of each of them. Hence categorization of opinions depending on implication is an essential job. In this article, attempt is made for opinion assessment depending on its superiority, and help buyer make a proper buying judgment. A web mining technique that is narrative and effective is used to assess the consumer opinion for manufactured goods depending on marked allocation are anticipated. The superiority consideration of consumer reviews are classified as genuine, near duplicate, and duplicate opinion. It is carried out in three steps: (1) Recognize opinion regions to take out opinions. (2) Take out and separate features of reviews by quartile compute and assign weights to the features that belong to each group. (3) Consider the feature weights and group belongingness to assess the reviews. Investigational output demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed method which measures the quality of review and assesses it in view of that. The efficiency of client opinion summarization task is probably improved by recognizing and discarding irrelevant opinions

Rape myth acceptance of students: The influence of social groups

Objective The purpose of the study was two-fold. The first objective was to determine the level of rape myth acceptance of college students. The second objective was to determine the impact of social group membership on rape myth. Participants: 316 undergraduate students were recruited in spring of 2016. Methods: Surveys distributed to students to gauge rape myth acceptance using McMahon and Farmer’s Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance scale along with social group belongingness of sports, Greek life, and other student organizations. Results: Data analysis indicated students do not accept rape myths. Data specified no statistical significance, unlike past research, in social group membership such as Greek life and athletics in predicting rape myth acceptance. Conclusion: There is a need to further explore social group membership in its various forms to explain rape myths and why patterns of agreement still exist in this population.

Socio-demographic and Economic Dynamics of Climate Change and Adaptation: A Study on Rural Farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

The study explored the relationship between key socio-demographic and economic variables on climate change adaptation strategies of rural farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Three hundred (300) rural farmers were randomly selected from six (6) farming communities for the study. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to enrich understanding of relationships between socio-demographic variables and climate change. These variables: age, sex and marital status, size of households, religion, educational level, income source and social group belongingness were examined independently against the 16 adaptation strategies. The results showed high significance between some socio-economic variables and the adaptation strategy among farmers. The study revealed that age, gender, religious affiliation and social group belongingness showed significant relationships with coping strategies of the farmers. The study therefore recommends governmental and non-governmental activities directed towards enhancing capacities of agricultural extension services to address climate change susceptibility of rural farmers.

PENGARUH REWARD ATTRACTIVENESS, KNOWLEDGE BENEFIT, REQUIRED EFFORT, GROUP BELONGINGNESS DAN DISCLOSURE COMFORT TERHADAP EXPERIENTIAL BENEFIT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION DAN CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Purpose from this study was to determine the effect of attractiveness reward on experiential benefit, knowledge benefit on experiential benefit, required effort on experiential benefits, group belongingness to customer satisfaction, disclosure closure to customer satisfaction, group belongingness to customer loyalty, disclosure comfort to customer loyalty, experiential benefits to customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction to customer loyalty. The population used in this study is all Excelso customers who have amember card coffee shop Excelso. The number of samples in this study were 178 respondents. The analysis technique used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using the AMOS 16.0 program. The results showed a significant influence between variable reward attractiveness on experiential benefit, knowledge benefit on experiential benefit, required effort on experiential benefits, group belongingness to customer satisfaction, disclosure closure on customer satisfaction, experiential benefits for customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction for customer loyalty. Whereas variables that have no effect between variables group belongingness to customer loyalty and disclosure comfort to customer loyalty due to loyalty are influenced by satisfaction. Customers will be loyal when they are satisfied with the products or services offered by the company.

PENGARUH REWARD ATTRACTIVENESS, KNOWLEDGE BENEFIT, REQUIRED EFFORT, GROUP BELONGINGNESS DAN DISCLOSURE COMFORT TERHADAP EXPERIENTIAL BENEFIT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION DAN CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Purpose from this study was to determine the effect of attractiveness reward on experiential benefit, knowledge benefit on experiential benefit, required effort on experiential benefits, group belongingness to customer satisfaction, disclosure closure to customer satisfaction, group belongingness to customer loyalty, disclosure comfort to customer loyalty, experiential benefits to customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction to customer loyalty. The population used in this study is all Excelso customers who have amember card coffee shop Excelso. The number of samples in this study were 178 respondents. The analysis technique used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using the AMOS 16.0 program. The results showed a significant influence between variable reward attractiveness on experiential benefit, knowledge benefit on experiential benefit, required effort on experiential benefits, group belongingness to customer satisfaction, disclosure closure on customer satisfaction, experiential benefits for customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction for customer loyalty. Whereas variables that have no effect between variables group belongingness to customer loyalty and disclosure comfort to customer loyalty due to loyalty are influenced by satisfaction. Customers will be loyal when they are satisfied with the products or services offered by the company.