Family identification: a beneficial process for young adults who grow up in homes affected by parental intimate partner violence

peer-reviewedExposure to parental intimate partner violence (parental IPV) is a complex trauma. Research within social psychology establishes that identification with social groups impacts positively on how we appraise, respond to and recover from traumatic events. IPV is also a highly stigmatized social phenomenon and social isolation is a major factor for families affected by IPV, yet strong identification with the family group may act as a beneficial psychological resource to young people who grew up in homes affected by IPV. The current study, an online survey of 355 students (M-age = 20, 70% female), investigated if a psychosocial process, specifically identification with the family, may influence the relationship between the predictor, exposure to parental IPV, and outcomes, global self-esteem and state anxiety. Mediation analysis suggests that identification with the family has a positive influence on the relationship between exposure to parental IPV and psychological outcomes; exposure to parental IPV results in reduced family identification, but when family identification is strong it results in both reduced anxiety and increased self-esteem for young people. The findings highlight the importance of having a strong sense of belonging to the extended family for young people who were exposed to parental IPV, thus has implications for prevention, intervention, and social policy.PUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe

A commentary on the effects of identification with a support group on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis

peer-reviewedno abstract availableACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe

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

Sexual violence and traumatic identity change: evidence of collective post-traumatic growth

Recent 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

Adolescents' views of food and eating: Identifying barriers to healthy eating

This is a postprint version of the article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - © 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents Published by Elsevier Ltd.Contemporary Western society has encouraged an obesogenic culture of eating amongst youth. Multiple factors may influence an adolescent's susceptibility to this eating culture, and thus act as a barrier to healthy eating. Given the increasing prevalence of obesity amongst adolescents, the need to reduce these barriers has become a necessity. Twelve focus group discussions of single-sex groups of boys or girls ranging from early to-mid adolescence (N = 73) were employed to identify key perceptions of, and influences upon, healthy eating behaviour. Thematic analysis identified four key factors as barriers to healthy eating. These factors were: physical and psychological reinforcement of eating behaviour; perceptions of food and eating behaviour; perceptions of contradictory food-related social pressures; Q perceptions of the concept of healthy eating itself. Overall, healthy eating as a goal in its own right is notably absent from the data and would appear to be elided by competing pressures to eat unhealthily and to lose weight. This insight should inform the development of future food-related communications to adolescents. (c) 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.Funding from Safefood: the food safety promotion board is acknowledged

Shared national identification in Northern Ireland: An application of psychological models of group inclusion post conflict

The common ingroup identity model (CIIM) holds that viewing former outgroup members as part of a larger shared ingroup can allow social categorisation to be harnessed for social cohesion. The ingroup projection model (IPM) suggests that even where shared identification occurs, social divisions can be transposed into superordinate groups. Here we explore the potentially inclusive national identity in a region (Northern Ireland) which has historically seen a high polarisation of identities. Using three data sets (N = 2000; N = 359; N = 1179), we examine the extent to which a superordinate inclusive national identity, Northern Irish, is related to conciliatory attitudes. We find a common ingroup identity is linked to more positive social attitudes but not to more positive political attitudes. We conclude by considering the complexities of applying psychological models in the real world where structural and historical social divisions and vexing oppositional political questions can be transposed into new social and political orders

"It\u27s just heart breaking": Doing inclusive political solidarity or ambivalent paternalism through sympathetic discourse within the "refugee crisis" debate

This article explores how people do sympathetic talk in relation to the European refugee crisis. The analysis was grounded in critical discursive psychology and also drew on the concept of affective-discursive practice. Data was retrieved from a phone-in program on Irish national radio over a 6-month period when the refugee crisis debate was at its height. It is shown that speakers deployed elaborate sympathetic repertoires with ease that described their normative emotional response to the plight of the asylum seekers. But these same speakers found it problematic to present explicit, unambiguous, and unconditional calls of inclusive political solidarity with the asylum seekers, advocating increased asylum provision in Ireland. These findings are discussed in light of the hostile affective-discursive environment towards asylum and the common sense understanding that nation-states have the moral right to exclude, which appears to constrain the talk to a position of ambivalent paternalism.ACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe