Having a lot of a good thing: multiple important group memberships as a source of self-esteem.

Copyright: © 2015 Jetten et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedMembership in important social groups can promote a positive identity. We propose and test an identity resource model in which personal self-esteem is boosted by membership in additional important social groups. Belonging to multiple important group memberships predicts personal self-esteem in children (Study 1a), older adults (Study 1b), and former residents of a homeless shelter (Study 1c). Study 2 shows that the effects of multiple important group memberships on personal self-esteem are not reducible to number of interpersonal ties. Studies 3a and 3b provide longitudinal evidence that multiple important group memberships predict personal self-esteem over time. Studies 4 and 5 show that collective self-esteem mediates this effect, suggesting that membership in multiple important groups boosts personal self-esteem because people take pride in, and derive meaning from, important group memberships. Discussion focuses on when and why important group memberships act as a social resource that fuels personal self-esteem.This study was supported by 1. Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100238) awarded to Jolanda Jetten (see http://www.arc.gov.au) 2. Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP110200437) to Jolanda Jetten and Genevieve Dingle (see http://www.arc.gov.au) 3. support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being Program to Nyla Branscombe, S. Alexander Haslam, and Catherine Haslam (see http://www.cifar.ca)

Predicting Depression and Anxiety Among Adults with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose/Objective: Emerging research has highlighted sources of magnified stress and trauma for people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, as compared to others in the general population. However, little research has examined the mental health impact of the pandemic on people with disabilities in relation to disability-related stigma, social isolation, and demographic characteristics. The present study therefore sought to identify predictors of depression and anxiety symptoms among U.S. adults with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research Methods/Designs: Data were collected online between October and December 2020. U.S. adults with disabilities (n = 441) completed self-report measures of depression, anxiety, psychosocial processes, and a range of demographic and disability characteristics. Results: In our sample, 61.0% and 50.0% of participants met criteria for a probable diagnosis of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, respectively. Participants also experienced significantly higher levels of disability-related stigma and social isolation compared to pre-pandemic norms. Hierarchical regression analyses identified higher social isolation, presence of chronic pain, younger age, higher disability-related stigma, and higher worries about contracting COVID-19 as significant predictors of both depression and anxiety symptoms. Conclusion/implications: This study highlights important demographic and psychosocial predictors of mental health risks for people with disabilities in the context of COVID-19. Findings further underscore the need to attend to those at elevated risk within the disability community as rehabilitation professionals, disability organizations, and policymakers work to support people with disabilities in post-pandemic recovery and create a more equitable response to ongoing and future public health crises

Narrative identity among people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: The interdependent self

This study examines narrative identity among a large, diverse (American) sample of people with disabilities (PWDs) during the “second wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic (October-December, 2020). The study relied on abductive analyses, combining a purely inductive phase of inquiry followed by two rounds of investigation that filtered inductive insights through three theoretical lenses: social-ecological theory, the theory of narrative identity, and perspectives from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies. The central result was the identification of a particular configuration of self, one that was demonstrably interdependent with both immediate interpersonal contexts and with broader cultural contexts. This interdependent self was interpreted in both positive and negative ways by PWDs. These findings invite future inquiry into commonplace conceptualizations of an independent self at the center of personality research