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Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being

Levels of loneliness across the world have reached epidemic proportions, and their impact upon population health is increasingly apparent. In response, policies and initiatives have attempted to reduce loneliness by targeting social isolation among residents of local communities. Yet, little is know...

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Autores principales: McNamara, Niamh, Stevenson, Clifford, Costa, Sebastiano, Bowe, Mhairi, Wakefield, Juliet, Kellezi, Blerina, Wilson, Iain, Halder, Moon, Mair, Elizabeth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8518584/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33942319
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12456
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author McNamara, Niamh
Stevenson, Clifford
Costa, Sebastiano
Bowe, Mhairi
Wakefield, Juliet
Kellezi, Blerina
Wilson, Iain
Halder, Moon
Mair, Elizabeth
author_facet McNamara, Niamh
Stevenson, Clifford
Costa, Sebastiano
Bowe, Mhairi
Wakefield, Juliet
Kellezi, Blerina
Wilson, Iain
Halder, Moon
Mair, Elizabeth
author_sort McNamara, Niamh
collection PubMed
description Levels of loneliness across the world have reached epidemic proportions, and their impact upon population health is increasingly apparent. In response, policies and initiatives have attempted to reduce loneliness by targeting social isolation among residents of local communities. Yet, little is known about the social psychological processes underpinning the relationships between community belonging, loneliness, and well‐being. We report three studies which apply the Social Identity Approach to Health to examine the mechanisms underpinning the relationships between community identity, health, and loneliness. Hypotheses were tested through secondary analyses of the 2014–2015 UK Community Life Survey (N = 4,314) as well as bespoke household surveys in a more (N = 408) and less (N = 143) affluent community at high risk of loneliness. Studies 1 and 2a demonstrated that the relationship between community identification and well‐being was mediated by increased social support and reduced loneliness. In Study 2b, community identification predicted well‐being through reduced loneliness, but not through social support. Our results are the first to evidence these relationships and suggest that community‐level interventions that enhance community identification and peer support can promote a potential Social Cure for loneliness.
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spelling pubmed-85185842021-10-21 Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being McNamara, Niamh Stevenson, Clifford Costa, Sebastiano Bowe, Mhairi Wakefield, Juliet Kellezi, Blerina Wilson, Iain Halder, Moon Mair, Elizabeth Br J Soc Psychol Editor's Choice Levels of loneliness across the world have reached epidemic proportions, and their impact upon population health is increasingly apparent. In response, policies and initiatives have attempted to reduce loneliness by targeting social isolation among residents of local communities. Yet, little is known about the social psychological processes underpinning the relationships between community belonging, loneliness, and well‐being. We report three studies which apply the Social Identity Approach to Health to examine the mechanisms underpinning the relationships between community identity, health, and loneliness. Hypotheses were tested through secondary analyses of the 2014–2015 UK Community Life Survey (N = 4,314) as well as bespoke household surveys in a more (N = 408) and less (N = 143) affluent community at high risk of loneliness. Studies 1 and 2a demonstrated that the relationship between community identification and well‐being was mediated by increased social support and reduced loneliness. In Study 2b, community identification predicted well‐being through reduced loneliness, but not through social support. Our results are the first to evidence these relationships and suggest that community‐level interventions that enhance community identification and peer support can promote a potential Social Cure for loneliness. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-05-04 2021-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8518584/ /pubmed/33942319 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12456 Text en © 2021 The Authors. British Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Editor's Choice
McNamara, Niamh
Stevenson, Clifford
Costa, Sebastiano
Bowe, Mhairi
Wakefield, Juliet
Kellezi, Blerina
Wilson, Iain
Halder, Moon
Mair, Elizabeth
Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being
title Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being
title_full Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being
title_fullStr Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being
title_full_unstemmed Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being
title_short Community identification, social support, and loneliness: The benefits of social identification for personal well‐being
title_sort community identification, social support, and loneliness: the benefits of social identification for personal well‐being
topic Editor's Choice
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8518584/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33942319
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12456
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