Classed identities in adolescence

The central argument of this thesis is that social class remains a persistent system of inequality in education, health, life chances and opportunities. Therefore class matters. But why is it that so little attention has been paid to class in the psychological literature? Three papers are presented here which draw together theoretical advances in psychological understandings of group processes and sociological understandings of the complexity of class. As western labour markets become increasingly credentialised the overarching aim is to reveal the hidden nature of privilege and disadvantage in the education context. The first theoretical paper considers what it is that social psychology, a discipline so self-evidently interested in social context can offer to understanding class given its salience as a social category of consequence. Drawing on social identity approach the analysis considers the characteristics of class that make it difficult to conceptualise, measure and challenge. Paying particular attention to the political dimensions of class, contemporary theoretical developments and methodologies within psychology are used to highlight how class is rendered implicit rather than explicit in everyday life. The second empirical paper suggests banal meritocratic and individualist ideologies construct class group boundaries as permeable, status relations as stable, and inequality as legitimate. This may prevent explicit identification with class. This is problematic for the social identity approach which emphasises the importance of self-categorisation and identification. People tend to distance themselves from explicit collective class categories and contemporary class cultures have become individualised and implicit. Two related studies are presented exploring adolescents self-categorisations and identification with class groups. The first cross-sectional qualitative study of (N=32) adolescents demonstrates that despite the lack of explicit identification and a language to talk about class, adolescents define themselves and others, as distinct classed groups. The second quantitative study (N=190) found adolescents had difficulty naming their social class and the strength of this identification was significantly weaker than gender or national identification but was not absent. In the third empirical paper we seek to understand cultural and group level factors that contribute to the social class educational achievement gap and under-representation of working classed students in higher education settings. The first qualitative study of (N=32) adolescents reports on 5 focus group interviews completed in middle class and designated disadvantaged schools. Young people in disadvantaged schools evidence awareness of barriers to higher education and an interdependent model of personal agency. In contrast middle class participants see agency in educational settings as individualised and ultimately independent. Building on this study a second quantitative study of (N=199) adolescents all attending disadvantaged schools shows community identification and an interdependent model of agency are however associated with young people’s positive feelings about school. It is argued that social identities do not, necessarily, require explicit knowledge of belonging in order to be important processes to study. We demonstrate class issues are localised by, often, parochial self and other definitions. This obscures the structural factors which perpetuate inequality and render advantage and disadvantage invisible. Finally, discussion centers on the value of a group level approach that orients to the cultural fit and compatibility of educational settings for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds

LGBTQ+ cultural competency of Irish mental health professional students

Introduction: The LGBTQ+ community is often discriminated against and stigmatized resulting in greater psychological and emotional stress compared to heterosexual and cisgender people. Consequently, poorer mental health is often observed in this community. To alleviate these disparities, mental health professionals need to be culturally competent. Therefore, LGBTQ+ cultural competency was explored in a sample of Irish mental health professional students. Methods: A questionnaire was circulated among Irish students in mental health programmes. Out of approximately 700 students, 66 competed the survey, of which 23 identified as LGBTQ+. Results: In terms of cultural competency, participants reported significantly higher attitudinal awareness compared to basic knowledge and clinical preparedness. Further, cultural competency was lower for transgender clients. LGBTQ+ patient education significantly predicted cultural competency when controlling for demographic variables. Three themes were generated from the open answers: experiences of cultural competency training, affirmative but uninformed, and recommendations for implementing training. Conclusion: To provide adequate, affirmative care, cultural competency training should be a mandatory component of all mental health professional programmes</p

Disclosing an autism diagnosis: a social identity approach

Autistic people face a difficult dilemma around whether or not to disclose their diagnosis because autism is a stigmatized social group. The central aim of this study was to examine if a social identity approach could be useful in understanding the factors that predict the likelihood of autistic adults disclosing their autism diagnosis in social settings, in the workplace, in educational settings and in the family. The social identity approach predicts that autistic people may cope with this dilemma by using an individualistic strategy to distance from their autistic social identity. Alternatively, they may embrace their autistic social identity and use a collective strategy to resist stigma and advocate for autism. We present a survey based cross-sectional study (n = 175) with autistic adults living in Ireland. Participants completed a series of measures; autism social identification, stigma consciousness, and individualistic and collective strategy use to assess disclosing in the four settings. The overall models in each of the four regressions were significant. Autism social identification positively predicted disclosure in social, work-place and educational settings, while stigma consciousness negatively predicted disclosure in the family and in the workplace. Interestingly, over and above these predictors individualistic strategy use negatively predicted disclosure in each of the four settings, while collective strategy positively predicted disclosure in social, educational and family settings. Our novel social identity approach was useful for explaining autistic adult’s strategies to cope with the complex disclosure dilemma. Strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.</p

‘It’s a life-changing point for me’: critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness as activist identity change in ‘popular education’

The Youth Global Awareness Programme (YGAP) is a 2-week residential ‘popular education’ programme for young, diverse, international, labour movement activists, run by the International Federation of Workers Education Associations in Cape Town, South Africa. In this mixed method study (N = 47), we draw on the Social Identity Approach to Education and Learning. We propose that the participatory, peer-to-peer learning during YGAP leads to activist identity change, where critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness develop as group norms. The first longitudinal questionnaire study found significant increases in activist identity and critical consciousness, which predicted increased collective empowerment. In the second focus group study, data were analysed with reflexive thematic analysis and two themes provide compelling evidence of learning during YGAP as identity change processes. Participants’ commonalities and differences enhanced activist identities with global awareness. Simultaneously, new knowledge, passion, hope and connection to a global activist community created collective empowerment

Growing leaders from below: Identity-based worker education and identity-leader ability among self-employed women in India

Informal and unregulated work is the norm rather than the exception in emerging economies. This study was conducted in India where nine out of 10 women are occupied in informal, unregulated work, and are vulnerable to low-wages, exploitation, and interconnected cultural and social-economic injustices. The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and their education wing the Indian Academy of Self-Employed Women encourage their members to self-define as “self-employed workers” and facilitate identity-based worker education and leadership training. Drawing on insights from the Social Identity Approach to Learning and the New Psychology of Leadership this cross-sectional study (N = 300) explored if this shared social identity significantly predicted participants perceived identity-leadership ability. We further explored if this relationship was partially explained by SEWA norms, values, and beliefs, developed during learning, and measured as “awareness of gendered inequality”, “injustice consciousness”, and “collective efficacy”. A parallel mediation analysis found a direct relationship between “self-employed women identity” and “identity-leader ability” and indirect relationships through “awareness of gendered inequality” and “collective efficacy”. No indirect path was evident through “injustice consciousness”. The theoretical and practical implications of an identity-based approach to worker education and leader training among vulnerable workers, are discussed.</p

Community identity and collective efficacy: a social cure for traumatic stress in post Earthquake Nepal

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was initially conceptualized as a psychopathology that arose as a consequence of war time experiences. More recently, available evidence has demonstrated that post-traumatic stress (PTS) as a consequence of war is buffered by social identity processes. In such contexts, identity resources are arguably more readily accessible given the integral relationship between social identities and intergroup violence. There is no evidence as yet to suggest that social identity processes may act to reduce PTS responses to naturally occurring disasters such as earthquakes and even less data pertaining to non-Western contexts where the impact of such disasters tends to be particularly catastrophic. This article reports on a study undertaken in earthquake-affected regions in Nepal devastated by the April 2015 quake and its major aftershock a month later. Participants (n=399) completed measures of their earthquake experience, Post-Traumatic Stress and Post Traumatic growth (PTG), as well as measures of community identification and collective efficacy. In total 399 people completed the measures approximately six months after the quakes. Results of the study indicated that consistent with tenets of the social identity framework, ethnic and gender group memberships impacted on reported experiences during the earthquake. Reported experience during the quakes and ethnic group membership were both related to increased symptoms of PTS. Ethnicity was also linked to the proportion of respondents reporting clinical levels of PTSD symptoms. The relationship between earthquake experience and PTG was mediated by community identification and collective efficacy. Earthquake experience also had an indirect effect on PTS through collective efficacy. Implications of these findings for those working with traumatized groups are discussed.</p

Vaccination roll-out:a time to develop and maintain trust in science and health care

Many countries are facing a new phase of the pandemic where COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and uptake takes centre stage. Vaccine hesitancy poses a real challenge in pursuit of this goal. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health.1 The need to understand and support uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations is now imperative. To achieve herd immunity, the virus transmission rate, R, and the performance of the vaccine must be taken into account.2 Given higher transmissibility of new variants, and an optimistic estimate of efficacy of .80, reducing the risk of vaccine recipients getting the disease by 80%, herd immunity may require entire populations to be immunised

Solidarity matters: prototypicality and minority and majority adherence to national COVID-19 health advice

The effectiveness of measures introduced to minimise the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19) depends on compliance from all members of society. The Irish response to COVID-19 has been framed as a collective effort, fostering national solidarity. However, dominant representations of the national community often unreflexively reaffirm the prototypicality of majority group members, implicitly marginalizing minority group members. This may have implications for adherence behaviours. We propose that majority/minority membership of the national community predicts adherence to COVID-19 health advice via prototypicality and national solidarity. In Study 1, we collected data online from Irish residents (N = 1,185) during the first wave of restrictions in Ireland’s response. In Study 2, we collected data from Irish residents (N = 537) during the second wave of restrictions, with more targeted sampling of minority groups. Based on these two studies, there is no difference between minority and majority group members’ adherence behaviours. However, mediation analysis showed that greater adherence to COVID-19 health advice is shown when group members perceive themselves to be prototypical of the Irish national community, and thereby show greater national solidarity. In Study 3, we manipulated an appeal to adhere to restrictions (N = 689) and show that an inclusive solidarity appeal increased reported intentions to adhere to COVID-19 restrictions compared to an exclusive solidarity appeal among minority group members. These findings suggest that appeals to national solidarity in response to COVID-19 will be most successful when they reference the diversity of the nation

Restricted reproductive rights and risky sexual behaviour: how political disenfranchisement relates to women’s sense of control, well-being and sexual health

Few studies have investigated the role of disenfranchisement and denial of agency in women’s sexual health. To address this, a cross-sectional study of disenfranchisement, control (general and reproductive control) and health was conducted in Ireland, where abortion is severely restricted. Multiple mediation models (N = 513 women) indicated that general but not reproductive control mediates the association between disenfranchisement and psychological well-being. Additionally, serial mediation shows disenfranchisement is associated with lower sense of control, which is linked to poorer well-being and risky sexual behaviour. Disenfranchisement arising from socio-political contexts may have important implications for women’s sexual health

From social curse to social cure: A self-help group community intervention for people affected by leprosy in Nepal

Leprosy is endemic in Nepal and disproportionately affects the most marginalized. Leprosy related stigma can be characterized as a social curse, because those affected are excluded from group life and social participation which has severe implications for psychological health. The Nepal Leprosy Trust run a community-based self-help group intervention that aims to develop a new empowered identity to re-establish access to multiple group memberships' through social participation. In this applied cross-sectional study, informed by the Social Identity Model of Identity Change, we assess this intervention. Participants (N = 98) were members of self-help groups in 10 rural villages in Nepal, and completed measures of self-help group identification, access to multiple groups, internalized stigma and wellbeing. Mediation models indicated that self-help group identification was indirectly linked to reduced stigma and increased well-being through access to multiple groups. Supporting the Social Identity Model of Identity Change, we present novel evidence that group-based interventions can offer new valued identities that link to social cure resources, even in the most adverse circumstances