Social Identity Change Research Articles

Change in vaping, smoking and dual-use identities predicts quit success and cigarette usage: A prospective study of people quitting smoking with electronic cigarette support.

Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are an efficacious support for some but not all people wishing to stop using tobacco. While advice and practical support have been identified as increasing quit success, little research has explored the role of changes in smoking and EC-related social identities. A prospective study following 573 people attempting to quit smoking with EC support. Self-report measures of identification with being a smoker, non-smoker, vaper and dual user (people using ECs and tobacco products) were taken prior to the quit attempt and at a 12-week follow-up. Baseline identifications with being a smoker, non-smoker or dual user were not associated with smoking outcomes. Baseline vaper identity baseline was linked to more frequent tobacco abstinence at follow-up and lower levels of cigarette smoking. Levels of social identification at follow-up were consistently linked with outcomes, with vaper identity and non-smoking identities being protective and dual user identity being related to lower abstinence rates but decreased tobacco usage. Changes in identity over time were the most consistent predictor of outcomes. Findings have implications for smoking cessation practice, informing how and when identity-based interventions may be effective and our understanding of how identity transitions occur.

Child sexual abuse and social identity loss: A qualitative analysis of survivors' public accounts.

Emerging evidence suggests that social identities are an important determinant of adaptation following traumatic life experiences. In this paper, we analyse accounts of people who experienced child sexual abuse. Using publicly available talk of people who waived their right to anonymity following successful conviction of perpetrators, we conducted a thematic analysis focusing on trauma-related changes in their social identities. Analysis of these accounts highlighted two themes. The first highlights the acquisition in these accounts of unwanted and damaging identity labels. The second presents child sexual abuse as a key destructive force in terms of important identity work during childhood. Discussion of this analysis centres on the pathological consequences of social identity change. Both the loss of valued identities and the acquisition of aberrant and isolating identities are experienced and constructed as devastating by those affected by child sexual abuse. This has important implications, not only for those impacted by child sexual abuse but for how abuse is discussed in society, and how it is approached by policy makers, educators and individuals working with survivors and their families.

Believing in Change: Predicting Identification, Performance, and Ethical Culture in an Organizational Acquisition Case in Romania

This study examines how positive beliefs about organizational changes during a foreign acquisition case influence organizational identification, perceptions of ethical organizational culture, and individual performance seven months post-acquisition. By integrating theories of social identity and organizational change, we offer a new perspective on how positive perceptions of change influence key outcomes following mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Using a cross-lagged design with two cross-sectional datasets within a high-intensity telecommuting organization in Romania, we found that viewing change positively significantly enhanced organizational identification, perceptions of ethical organizational culture, and individual performance. These findings highlight the crucial role of effectively managing the narrative surrounding change processes and enhancing employee perceptions in successful organizational integration following M&As.

Caught between two worlds: Social identity change among second‐generation Afghan immigrants in Iran

AbstractThis study investigates the identity processes among second‐generation Afghans living in Iran and evaluate the relevance of the social identity model of social change (SIMIC) to understand their unique experiences. We conducted 23 in‐depth interviews and analysed the data using grounded theory method. The findings showthat Afghan youths' efforts towards integration often fail due to unfavourable responses from the host society, compounded by the perceived discriminatory environment. In addition, in line with SIMIC, the results show that participants lacks socio‐psychological resources linked to previous group membership and this leads to poorer mental health. Finally, we explore the engagement in de‐labelling, the formation of purposeful social bonds, and the development of a cosmopolitan identity among our participants as the main identity‐oriented mechanisms to navigate the challenges of being rejected by both one's and the host community.

Working Remotely, Feeling Remote? The Role of Digitally Mediated Communication in Shaping the Identity of Virtual Expatriates.

Utilizing the social identity theory, this conceptual article has proposed how digitally mediated communication between expatriates and host country nationals (HCNs) in a remote work arrangement is linked with individualized change experiences of virtual expatriates. The conceptualized model proposes that the lack of in-depth conversations via virtual communication platforms leads to the development of weak emotional interactions between virtual expatriates and HCNs. However, weakened emotional interactions might result in positive or negative impact on expatriates' identity based on personality-based differences. In this regard, expatriates with collective self-esteem are likely to experience social identity threats because of weakened social ties with HCNs. Contrary to the above group, expatriates having personal self-esteem would view weak socialization as an opportunity and experience an improvement in their leader identity, thus experience a positive social identity change over time. This research has conceptually explored outcomes of digitally mediated communication between expatriates and HCNs on the identity change experiences of expatriates, and holistically covers the role of positive as well as negative change experiences. Unlike the focus of the majority of literature on traditional expatriation, the proposed model has focused on experiences of virtual expatriates, and how working in remote work settings lead to long-term socio-psychological changes in these individuals.

Correlations Between Social and National Mobility in Carniola

The article provides a brief overview of the position of the nobility in Slovenia. First, it focuses on the connection between the nobility and historiography, which from the mid-19th century was increasingly burdened by the national struggles of the past. The findings show that until the mid-19th century the nobility was strongly integrated into Slovenian society, including through the use of the Slovene language, but was then forced into a national definition, and as a rule (with few exceptions) chose to take the German side. More than a change in ethnic identity, a change in social identity was relevant in the early modern period. The new nobility tried as much as possible to adopt and take on a manner of behaviour that suited to their new status. This especially meant the purchase of landed property and forming kinship ties with other noble families. The article concludes with a brief overview of the fate of the nobility in Slovenia after 1918. Keywords: Nobility, Slovenian territory, national struggles, historiography, ethnicity, social mobility

Impact of social exclusion on social identity: social-philosophical dimension

The article examines the impact of social exclusion on a person’s social identity. For this purpose, the works of foreign and Ukrainian researchers were analyzed and it was found that the latter is mostly considered as a personal construct that arises against the background of intergroup differences and ingroup similarities and expresses a person's solidarity with group norms, values and ideals. The latter can change during a person’s life under the influence of various challenges and transform a person’s social identity in a positive or negative direction. Thus, in cases where a person has internal resources for solving certain problems or overcoming life challenges, which are accompanied by his exclusion from the usual social environment, his social identity changes in a positive way, and he himself moves to a new level of social life and occupies the corresponding last place in society. Under such conditions, the change in his social identity occurs quite naturally and contributes to the formation of relatively stable ideas of a person about himself and society about him. These ideas are confirmed by the new social status, which marks the role and place that the individual occupies in the social system according to the main spheres of social life. Instead, the exclusion of a person from the usual social environment, as a result of one or another life challenges (loss of job or housing, occupation of the region, migration, etc.), which deprives a person of the opportunity to fully integrate into social processes and be a full-fledged part of society, can be accompanied not only by radical changes in human value system, but also deviant forms of behavior that will lead to social exclusion in the future.

Sexual health among older adults

As human life expectancy increases, the population aging crisis is spreading worldwide. Sexual health is integral to the overall health of older adults. The 50-60-year-old age group is in a transitional phase of physiological changes (e.g., women going through menopause) and social changes (e.g., changes in work status and social identity). Individuals aged 60 years and above still have sexual desires. However, there is relatively little research on sexual health in this age group. In this context, this paper delves into topics related to sexual health among those aged 50 years and above, aiming to understand the evolution and influencing factors of sexual health in this population during various stages of aging. This information can be used to formulate relevant policies and promote the overall health of this population.

Brothers and sisters in arms: A mixed‐methods investigation of the roles played by military support and social identity processes in the mental health of veterans during the transition to veterancy

AbstractThe transition to veterancy can be psychologically challenging, and although the military provides support, the importance of social connectedness for well‐being is largely unrecognised. The significance of this oversight is highlighted by the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC), which conceptualises life change as social identity change. SIMIC has been applied to numerous life transitions, but not to veterancy, although there is evidence that the social and psychological challenges of this transition may be especially profound (e.g., due to the chronically salient, highly structured and largely unique nature of military life and identity). To remedy this, in Study 1 (N = 210), UK‐based veterans completed an online survey. Consistent with SIMIC, social group maintenance and gain predicted mental health via the psychological resources they provided (meaning, self‐esteem, sense of personal control), and group gain was predicted by perceived military support during the transition. Study 2 (N = 14) extended these findings qualitatively through exploration of veterans' transition experiences. These studies are the first to apply aspects of the SIMIC to the veterancy transition, and they show the applicability of SIMIC in this context. They also highlight the need for transition‐related education that includes guidance on group joining and reconnecting. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Does social media usage contribute to cross-border social commerce? An empirical evidence from SEM and fsQCA analysis

Drawing from the S-O-R perspective, this paper proposes a theoretical model explicating the mechanism whereby social media usage functions on customers' engagement in cross-cultural social commerce by employing a mixed-method approach including SEM and fsQCA analysis technique. Analysis of the data collected from 135 countries' 2058 international students indicates that social media usage, either for information or socializing purpose, exerts positive effects on international customers' engagement in social commerce through the conduit of cultural identity change, and social support positively moderates the relationships between two dimensions of social media usage and cultural identity change. The analysis of fsQCA further augmented the robust results reached from SEM and identified four types of configurations that trigger customers' engagement in cross-border social commerce. Research implications and limitations are also discussed.

Relational parenthood in addiction recovery.

Aims: The purpose of this research was to elicit how parents attending family-focused substance abuse treatment construct their parenthood in relation to other people. Design: Relational parenthood of addiction treatment attendees is scrutinised from seven thematic interviews carried out in a community-based inpatient substance abuse treatment unit in Finland. The core analytical concept of the research is relationality. The data were first content coded via Atlas.ti22 and the relations and codes classified into the five following parenthood types emerging from the data: (1) worn-out; (2) coping; (3) ambivalent; (4) changing; and (5) supported. Content codes and parenthood types were cross-tabulated to ascertain how these types are emphasised in different relationships. Results: Worn-out and coping parenthood types emerged in the closest relationships, mostly with their own children and the other parent. Ambivalent parenthood was present in all relations as expressions of inner conflict, which can lead to changing parenthood. Changing parenthood emerged in relation to interviewees' own children as an empowering experience. It also emerged in relation to other people as readiness to accept help. Supported parenthood was most often found in relation to significant others and professionals, presumably due to the context of the interviews. Conclusion: The parenthood types illustrate how parenting changes over time, which is also an important part of social identity change in recovering from addiction. In treatment, it is extremely important to understand the different sides of parenthood and to use the information to strengthen clients' parenthood.

The Impact of Social Media Use on Social Interaction in Contemporary Society

The use of social media has become a phenomenon that dominates human life in the contemporary era. This phenomenon raises important questions regarding the impact of social media use on social interactions in contemporary society. This research will explore how social media affects intergroup interactions, including in the context of social groups, communities, and social movements. This research is a literature review that uses a qualitative method approach, which means it will analyse and interpret data by relying on information and text from various sources. The study found that the use of social media has brought about profound changes in the patterns of social interaction in contemporary society. This phenomenon has complex impacts, including increased global connectivity, changes in the way individuals construct social identities, and providing a platform for social movements. However, it needs to be recognised that these impacts are not only positive, but also present challenges such as social isolation, unhealthy comparisons, and the spread of harmful information.

Sexual violence and traumatic identity change: Evidence of collective post‐traumatic growth

AbstractRecent research indicates that social identities play a crucial role in the connection between adversity, post‐traumatic stress, and overall psychological well‐being. Understanding of how trauma influences collective dimensions of the self, positively or negatively, is limited. This study focuses on analysing publicly accessible narratives of four women who chose to waive their anonymity after the conviction of the men who had attacked and sexually assaulted them in Ireland. Thematic analysis highlighted two themes that signal (i) collective dimensions to this personal trauma, (ii) attempts to reconstruct social identities in the aftermath of trauma. Women presented their experiences as having the potential to amplify positive connections with others despite the wider embedded sociocultural understanding of sexual assault. These changes were associated with redefinition of social identities. Discussion highlights the potential for personal and intimate trauma to result in positive social identity change; a phenomenon that we label collective post‐traumatic growth.

African Development and the Globalization Imperative: New Directions, Familiar Crises

Globalisation has emerged as the defining conceptual and contextual socioeconomic framework of analysis for the early 21st century. Throughout Africa particularly, globalisation has become a political-economic buzzword for profound structural change, as well as the focus of vociferous and rigorous criticism by those sectors of society disadvantaged, damaged, orbypassed by the forces of global restructuring. Moreover, globalisation often is discussed from an absolutist perspective and framed almost exclusively within the context of the political state. As a result, regions, places, and people frequently are reduced to insignificant actors or are omitted from the analysis altogether. This paper examines the theoretical and practicalimplications of globalisation for development in Africa and argues for an analytical approach that encompasses key regional and local conditions. With Africa as the framework of reference, six critical elements of development under globalisation are examined: social polarisation, migration, democratisation, cultural identity, transportation, and environmental change. The paper concludes by discussing the concept of ‘globalisation’ and arguing for a policy approach that rethinks the extant framework and restructures the analytical construct in a more proactive manner

Social participation and identity change during study abroad: British sojourners in China

AbstractAn international experience usually influences language learners’ identity through social participation. This qualitative study examines a group of British students’ identity change in China. We conducted individual interviews and group discussions with eight participants. The analysis revealed that despite an outset perception of “otherness,” some students sought excitement and new experiences while others strengthened national identities. Students whose identity shifted toward the “open‐ended” took pride in their Chinese proficiency development and made use of “otherness” to build close and meaningful relationships. Students whose identity shifted toward a “self–other” orientation did not seek cultural experiences. These findings will inform international students and education providers to make the most use of study‐abroad opportunities and experiences to learn the culture and language of the host country.

Carrier bag storytelling with coastal Kenyan families: sharing food, illustrations, and knowledge for tangible environmental justice impacts

The small-scale fisheries food system, in which individuals achieve food security independently or in small groups through fishing livelihoods and/or subsistence activities, provides food sovereignty for millions globally. However, this arrangement has inequitable engagement due to strictly enforced gendered roles in many communities, including coastal Kenya. Recently, critics across environmental research disciplines have called for social justice in science through anticolonial, feminist methodologies and interdisciplinary praxis. This resistance may take form through the “carrier bag” ability of fiction: an allusion to Le Guin's visionary analysis of containers as the first cultural device and evidence of the power of a story or personal sovereignty to tell one's story. Drawing from creative, service-driven methodologies emerging from collaboration among international research team members and Indigenous research participants, this project uses the “carrier bag” framework to support local environmental justice and food sovereignty goals through a science storybook resource created and shared with fishing families in Kilifi County, Kenya. We investigate how stories shape interpersonal relations in the context of this collaboration and how health knowledge, environmental science, and representational imagery can be tools for justice by examining the connections between social identity, family values, and social-ecological change in this food system. Having a deeper understanding of the experiences, changing ecosystems, and research feedback of these families allows this work to support fisheries management and nutrition interventions in Kenya and communities elsewhere.

Social movements and collective behavior: an integration of meta-analysis and systematic review of social psychology studies.

The impact of social movements (SMs) and collective behavior (CB) supports the relevance of approaching this phenomenon from social psychology. Several systematic reviews (10) and meta-analyses (6) have been carried out in the 21st century, but there is a lack of integration. This study seeks to review the patterns of CB and corroborate the psychosocial factors that explain participation in CB and SMs, as well as the long-term psychological effects of participating in them. A systematic search was carried out in the databases Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Willey Online Library, EBSCO, and JSTOR for articles dated between 1969 and 2022. We searched for meta-analyses and systematic reviews that empirically evaluated social movements and collective behavior. Of the 494 initial records, after scanning and eligibility phases, 16 meta-analyses and systematic reviews were analyzed in the present work. The evidence reviewed shows that participation in collective gatherings and CB are common. A cross-cultural survey suggests that collective gatherings are mostly of a leisure type, to a lesser extent religious and sporting, and to an even lesser extent, demonstrations and large religious rites. World Value surveys found that one to three persons out of 10 participate in protests or CB related to SMs and four out of 10 movements achieved some kind of success. Studies challenged that CBs were characterized by unanimity of beliefs, identification and behavior, generalized excitement, as well as mass panic and riot after catastrophes. Only two out of 10 CB are violent. Meta-analysis and systematic reviews confirm that participation in CB and SMs was associated with (a) intergroup conflict and realistic threat (r = 0.30); (b) positive attitudes, expectations, or agreement with goals or collective motive (r = 0.44); (c) cognitive fraternal relative deprivation (r = 0.25); (d) collective efficacy (r = 0.36); (e) collective identity (r = 0.34); (f) emotions and affective relative deprivation (r = 0.35); (g) moral conviction and threat to moral (r = 0.29); and (h) disagreement with system justification belief (r = -0.26). Participation in successful CB and SMs provokes positive changes in emotions, social identity and social relationships, values and beliefs, and empowerment, as well as negative effects such as depression, stress, burnout, and disempowerment related to the failures of SMs. Studies confirm the importance of explanatory factors for SMs, with data from various cultural regions. There is a lack of systematic studies of CB as well as meta-analyses and more culturally diverse studies of the effects of participation in them.

Disadvantaged-Group Members’ Experiences of Life Transitions: The Positive Impact of Social Connectedness and Group Memberships

Whether life transitions are anticipated or unforeseen, they can be challenging to navigate because the change process involves a period of uncertainty and adjustment. Specifically, transitions often require social identity change, whereby individuals leave one or more social groups behind and join one or more groups in the new environment. Such changes can be especially hard when individuals belong to a disadvantaged group (e.g., a low-income or racial- or ethnic-minority group) because they also have to contend with the additional hurdle of systemic inequality. Yet members of disadvantaged groups also have resources to navigate social identity change during life transitions—resources that facilitate and support successful social identity change. We review our research with immigrants and university students to show how individuals’ social connectedness with groups can facilitate positive outcomes during life transitions, including social integration, psychological well-being, positive beliefs about the self, and successful academic performance. In particular, we consider individuals’ group memberships prior to the transition and the new identities they adopt in the new context as key determinants of successful identity change. We conclude with implications for policy and practice.

Boundaries beyond borders: The impact of institutional discourse on the identities of asylum seekers

Previous research has shown how certain language has been used to legitimise political actions against asylum seekers, but a greater examination of how this language might impact the identities of asylum seekers themselves by imposing particular subject-positions, is needed. This paper begins from the premise that social identity change is important in the psycho-social wellbeing of asylum seekers and that discourse within UK asylum guidance enables and obstructs this process. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was used to explore how certain identity categories were constructed, and asylum seekers were positioned, within 59 official documents. The documents selected were those which directly addressed asylum seekers, providing guidance about UK asylum policy and practice. These included formal UK government guidance documents and documents provided by Non-Government Organisations (NGOs). A discourse of ‘security’ inhabited the UK government guidance, which constructed a moral imperative to protect the UK from outside harm and thus positioned those forced to migrate as morally dubious. Further, the discourse served to infrahumanise asylum seekers, homogenising them as ‘other’ which in turn was used to justify more punitive asylum practices. By contrast, a discourse of ‘compassion’ inhabited the NGO texts, which served to recognise, emotionally connect and respond to the needs of those seeking asylum. It constructed active, multiple identities among those seeking asylum, allowing space for old and new identities to come to the fore and positioning a potential ‘them’ as ‘us’. Within this material, UK asylum guidance acts as a powerful psychological tool in which the two discourses construct seemingly incompatible identities. These identities either open up or close down opportunities for change, thus enabling both a ‘social cure’ and a ‘curse’ in the experience of, and changes within, post-migration life.

Understanding the Linkage Between Workplace Humor and Loneliness Among Newcomers

A vast body of literature emphasizes upon the essential role of workplace humor and links its different types with positive or negative impacts on employees’ performance. However, there is a limited understanding regarding how newcomers respond to the workplace humor and experience individualized changes in them. Building on the social identity theory, this article develops a unique process model and develops a linkage between workplace humor and loneliness among newcomers. Further, it identifies the underlying mechanisms and conditions which impacts the social identity changes of newcomers during this process. Based on the proposed mode, it is suggested that exposure to workplace humor is likely to lead to surface acting by newcomers during the initial days of their adjustment, particularly when the risk of social exclusion is high among them. On the one hand, consistent engagement in surface acting is likely to lead to positive emotions among those newcomers who will experience identity synergy. Thus, those individuals will embrace positive social identity changes over time. On the other hand, lack of alignment and the perceptions of identity conflict among some newcomers will trigger negative emotions in them, which will eventually lead to their rude behavior at the workplace; such individuals are likely to experience loneliness at the workplace. Overall, the proposed conceptual model presents a thorough relational process model of workplace humor, thus contributes a useful understanding of the deep and internalized change experiences of newcomers.