Positive school climate and strong school identification as protective factors of adolescent mental health and learning engagement: A longitudinal investigation before and during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant disruptions for children and youth around the world, especially given school closures and shifts in teaching modes (on-line and hybrid). However, the impact of these disruptions remains unclear given data limitations such as a reliance on cross-sectional and/or short-interval surveys as well as a lack of broad indicators of key outcomes of interest. The current research employs a quasi-experimental design by using an Australian four-year longitudinal survey with student responses from Grade 7 to 10 (aged 12-15 years old) (N = 8,735 from 20 schools) in one education jurisdiction. Responses are available pre-pandemic (2018 and 2019) and during the pandemic (2020 and 2021). Importantly the survey included measures of well-being, mental health and learning engagement as well as potential known school-environment factors that could buffer against adversity: school climate and school identification. The findings were generally in line with key hypotheses; 1) during COVID-19 students' learning engagement and well-being significantly declined and 2) students with more positive school climate or stronger school identification pre-COVID-19 fared better through the disruption of the pandemic. However, these same students suffered from a steeper decline in well-being and engagement which may be explained through the impact of losing meaningful social or group connections. This decline was evident after controlling for gender, academic grade (as a proxy of age), parental education, and socioeconomic status. It is concluded that investing in the social environment of schools is important in crisis preparedness and can facilitate better crisis response among youth.

The role of group memberships and school identification on student well-being.

There are widespread concerns about a decline in young people's mental health. One promising direction to address this issue involves group memberships and social identity processes. Despite progress, there are several issues in current theory and research including (1) whether the number of groups to which an individual belongs is related to more positive well-being, (2) better understanding the relationship between group memberships and social identification processes and (3) the need for more comprehensive longitudinal methods. The goal of this study was to address these issues using a three-wave longitudinal design (n = 1331) conducted with high-school students. Both the number and importance (an indicator of social identification) of student extracurricular activities (ECA) were assessed as predictors of six well-being outcomes. Importantly, we also assessed whether identification with the school as the context in which the ECAs were situated mediated this association. Results show that, generally, the number of group memberships had no direct effect on well-being, however, there was a consistent mediation via school identification. When considering number and importance of one model (comprising a subsample) importance emerged as the key predictor. Such findings advance understanding of the social identity and well-being relationship and have practical implications.

The curative effect of schools: A longitudinal study of the impact of school climate, school identification, and resilience on adolescent mental health.

Mental illness in adolescents is on the rise, thus it is vital to study factors that can improve youth mental health. The extant theory and research have identified both social (school climate; school identification) and individual (resilience) constructs as protectors of mental health. However, these protective factors remain in silo and require further integration. To address this issue, the present study proposed and investigated an integrative model in which social factors (i.e., school climate, school identification) nurture individual (i.e., resilience) protective factors, which in turn impact adolescent mental health. Using three-wave longitudinal data (2017-2019) from school students (Grades 7-8; N = 1,357), we found evidence supporting the integrated model examining five dimensions of mental health: anxiety, depression, happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect. Greater Wave 1 school climate predicted greater identification 1 year later, which in turn predicted greater resilience. Furthermore, greater resilience predicted lower depression and anxiety, and greater happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect 1 year later. These results support efforts to strengthen the school climate and reconceptualize resilience as an outcome of social processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

School climate, school identification and student outcomes: A longitudinal investigation of student well-being.

BACKGROUND: Schools are increasingly recognized as key facilitators of child and youth well-being. Much attention has been directed to the school social environment and the areas of school climate or school connectedness/identification. Drawing on the social identity approach and related work, it has been argued that school social identification may be the mechanism or process through which school climate comes to impact individual student functioning (Applied Psychology, 28, 2009, 171). Much of the previous research on social identity and well-being, though, is limited because it is cross-sectional. AIMS, SAMPLE & METHODS: This current study aims to advance understanding of the relationships between school climate, school identification and positive and negative well-being. It adopts a three-wave longitudinal sample of Australian students (N = 6537 wave 3, grades 7-10) and incorporates a range of control variables. Multilevel modelling (MLM) is used to test relationships of interest. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: In line with predictions, school identification was a significant mediator of the relationship between school climate and the well-being dimensions of positive affect and depression (but not anxiety). The substantial theoretical and practical implications of this research are discussed, including the role of the school social environment in helping young people successfully transition to adulthood.

The reciprocal relationship between social identity and adherence to group norms.

Previous research has focused on how social identification influences people's adherence to group norms, but has rarely considered how norm adherence might in turn influence how strongly people identify with the group. We proposed a reciprocal relationship between social identification and norm adherence that is shaped by the salience of the social identity in question. Drawing on data from a longitudinal field study of young people attending a mass gathering (N = 661, 1239 unique observations), we used cross-lagged panel modelling across five timepoints to test the reciprocal relationship between social identification with friends and anticipated adherence to perceived drinking norms among friends before (T0), during (T1-T3), and after (T4) the event. Greater social identification at T1 significantly predicted greater norm adherence at T2 which, in turn, predicted greater social identification at T3. These bidirectional effects were only significant during the mass gathering event, when the referent social identity was salient and thus relevant and meaningful in the social context. Findings indicate a complex interplay between social identity and norm adherence that is context dependent and evolves over time. Not only does social identity promote norm adherence but also adherence to those same norms can reinforce a sense of connection to the group.

The longitudinal effect of COVID-19 infections and lockdown on mental health and the protective effect of neighbourhood social relations.

RATIONALE: The effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on mental health is a major concern worldwide. Measuring the impacts, however, is difficult because of a lack of data that tracks and compares outcomes and potential protective social factors before and during lockdowns. OBJECTIVE: We aim to quantify the impact of a second lockdown in 2020 in the Australian city of Melbourne on levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and analyse whether social relations in the neighbourhood may buffer against the worst effects of lockdown. METHODS: We draw on quasi-experimental data from a nationally-representative longitudinal survey conducted in Australia. We use a difference-in-difference approach with a number of control variables to estimate changes in mental health among respondents in Melbourne following the imposition of the lockdown. A measure of perceived neighbourhood social relations is included as an explanatory variable to analyse potential protective effects. RESULTS: Lockdown is estimated to have increased depressive symptoms by approximately 23% and feelings of loneliness by 4%. No effect on anxiety was detected. Levels of neighbourhood social relations were strongly negatively associated with mental health symptoms. A significant interaction between lockdown and neighbourhood social relations suggests that lockdown increased depressive symptoms by 21% for people with average perceived neighbourhood relations, compared with a 9.7% increase for people whose perceived relations is one standard deviation greater than average. CONCLUSION: The results add to evidence of the harsh impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns on mental health. Importantly, neighbourhood social relations and social cohesion more broadly may be an important source of social support in response to lockdowns. These findings provide important insights for researchers and policy-makers in how to understand and respond to the mental health impacts of COVID-19.

Youth well-being predicts later academic success.

Young people worldwide face new challenges as climate change and complex family structures disrupt societies. These challenges impact on youth's subjective well-being, with evidence of decline across many countries. While the burden of negative well-being on productivity is widely examined amongst adults, its cost among youth remains understudied. The current research comprehensively investigates the relationship between youth subjective well-being and standardized academic test scores. We use highly controlled machine learning models on a moderately-sized high-school student sample (N ~ 3400), with a composite subjective well-being index (composed of depression, anxiety and positive affect), to show that students with greater well-being are more likely to have higher academic scores 7-8 months later (on Numeracy: ß* = .033, p = .020). This effect emerges while also accounting for previous test scores and other confounding factors. Further analyses with each well-being measure, suggests that youth who experience greater depression have lower academic achievement (Numeracy: ß* = - .045, p = .013; Reading: ß* = - .033, p = .028). By quantifying the impact of youth well-being, and in particular of lowering depression, this research highlights its importance for the next generation's health and productivity.

United We Stand, Divided We Fall: Sociopolitical Predictors of Physical Distancing and Hand Hygiene During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Most health models emphasize individual factors in predicting health behavior. However, in the context of COVID-19 where the immediate response to stopping the spread of the virus requires collective efforts and change, other sociopolitical factors need to be considered. Prior research points to health behaviors being impacted by neighborhood and national social relations, social identification, confidence in government and political orientation. This research, though, is generally piecemeal (or specific), tends to be cross-sectional, and is usually not oriented to pandemics. These issues are addressed in the current research. A two-wave study with a representative sample of Australians (N Wave 1 = 3028) gathered during COVID-19 examined sociopolitical factors at the local and national level as predictors of health behaviors one month later. Four models were tested. These encapsulated geographic levels (local or national) and two health behaviors (hand hygiene or physical distance). In the three of the four models, social identification was a significant predictor of health behavior, while controlling for sociodemographic and individual-level measures. There were more mixed results for social relations and confidence in government. There is evidence that to better promote health behaviors sociopolitical factors need to be more prominent in public policy and health behavior models.

Strengthening the incentives for responsible research practices in Australian health and medical research funding.

BACKGROUND: Australian health and medical research funders support substantial research efforts, and incentives within grant funding schemes influence researcher behaviour. We aimed to determine to what extent Australian health and medical funders incentivise responsible research practices. METHODS: We conducted an audit of instructions from research grant and fellowship schemes. Eight national research grants and fellowships were purposively sampled to select schemes that awarded the largest amount of funds. The funding scheme instructions were assessed against 9 criteria to determine to what extent they incentivised these responsible research and reporting practices: (1) publicly register study protocols before starting data collection, (2) register analysis protocols before starting data analysis, (3) make study data openly available, (4) make analysis code openly available, (5) make research materials openly available, (6) discourage use of publication metrics, (7) conduct quality research (e.g. adhere to reporting guidelines), (8) collaborate with a statistician, and (9) adhere to other responsible research practices. Each criterion was answered using one of the following responses: "Instructed", "Encouraged", or "No mention". RESULTS: Across the 8 schemes from 5 funders, applicants were instructed or encouraged to address a median of 4 (range 0 to 5) of the 9 criteria. Three criteria received no mention in any scheme (register analysis protocols, make analysis code open, collaborate with a statistician). Importantly, most incentives did not seem strong as applicants were only instructed to register study protocols, discourage use of publication metrics and conduct quality research. Other criteria were encouraged but were not required. CONCLUSIONS: Funders could strengthen the incentives for responsible research practices by requiring grant and fellowship applicants to implement these practices in their proposals. Administering institutions could be required to implement these practices to be eligible for funding. Strongly rewarding researchers for implementing robust research practices could lead to sustained improvements in the quality of health and medical research.

Better together: How group-based physical activity protects against depression.

Against the backdrop of evidence that physical activity can protect against depression, there has been growing interest in the mechanisms through which this relationship operates (e.g., biological adaptations), and the factors that might moderate it (e.g., physical activity intensity). However, no attempt has been made to examine whether, or through what mechanisms, depression-related benefits might arise from belonging to groups that engage in physical activity. Across two studies, we addressed these shortcomings by (a) examining whether engaging in physical activity specifically in the context of sport or exercise groups protects against depression and (b) testing two pathways through which benefits might arise: greater physical activity and reduced loneliness. Study 1 (N = 4549) used data from three waves of a population study of older adults residing in England. Sport or exercise group membership predicted fewer depression symptoms four years later. This relationship was underpinned by sport or exercise group members engaging in physical activity more frequently and feeling less lonely. Clinical depression rates were almost twice as high among non-group members than group members. Study 2 (N = 635) included Australian adults who were members of sport and exercise groups, recruited during the enforced suspension of all group-based sport and exercise due to COVID-19 restrictions. The more sport or exercise groups participants had lost physical access to, the more severe their depression symptoms. Clinical depression rates were over twice as high among those who had lost access to >2 groups compared to those who had lost access to <2 groups. The relationship between number of groups lost and depression symptom severity was mediated by greater loneliness, but not by overall physical activity. Overall, findings suggest that belonging to groups that engage in physical activity can protect against depression, and point to the value of initiatives that aim to promote people's engagement in such groups.

Perceived COVID-19 risk is attenuated by ingroup trust: evidence from three empirical studies.

BACKGROUND: The social identity model of risk taking proposes that people take more risks with ingroup members because they trust them more. While this can be beneficial in some circumstances, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic it has the potential to undermine an effective public health response if people underestimate the risk of contagion posed by ingroup members, or overestimate the risk of vaccines or treatments developed by outgroup members. METHODS: Three studies (two prospective surveys, one experiment) with community-based adults tested the potential for the social identity model of risk taking to explain risk perception and risk taking in the context of COVID-19. RESULTS: Study 1 was a two-wave study with a pre-COVID baseline, and found that people who identified more strongly as a member of their neighborhood pre-COVID tended to trust their neighbors more, and perceive interacting with them during COVID-19 lockdown to be less risky. Study 2 (N = 2033) replicated these findings in a two-wave nationally representative Australian sample. Study 3 (N = 216) was a pre-registered experiment which found that people indicated greater willingness to take a vaccine, and perceived it to be less risky, when it was developed by an ingroup compared to an outgroup source. We interpret this as evidence that the tendency to trust ingroup members more could be harnessed to enhance the COVID-19 response. CONCLUSIONS: Across all three studies, ingroup members were trusted more and were perceived to pose less health risk. These findings are discussed with a focus on how group processes can be more effectively incorporated into public health policy, both for the current pandemic and for future contagious disease threats.

The Theory of Planned Behavior and the Social Identity Approach: A New Look at Group Processes and Social Norms in the Context of Student Binge Drinking.

The current study investigates the theory of planned behavior with important additional predictors from the social identity approach. The study explores whether social identity might function as a driver of the theory of planned behavior and help explain how abstract group processes might impact student binge drinking behavior. Adopting a controlled statistical analysis, the hypothesized model expands the theory of planned behavior's current conceptualization of group norms and considers how the behavioral content of a specific group, with group identification, impacts binge drinking behavior (N = 551 university students). A path analysis that simultaneously mapped all the hypothesized relationships supported a reconceptualization of social identity as a predictor within the theory of planned behavior. The interaction between group identification and the importance of drinking to the group's identity significantly predicted an individual's attitudes towards binge drinking and perceived social binge drinking norms (subjective, descriptive and injunctive), which in turn predicted intentions to binge drink. Intentions to binge drink predicted self-reported binge drinking behavior two weeks later, above and beyond relevant covariates. The implications of these findings are discussed, with recommendations for future research.

Toward understanding mental illness stigma and help-seeking: A social identity perspective.

INTRODUCTION: People who experience mental illness are unlikely to seek help. Research suggests that mental illness stigma negatively impacts help-seeking, yet there is little information about factors that relate to stigma that are positively associated with help-seeking among those with compromised mental health. Emerging research suggests that aspects of the social identity perspective, namely group social identification and perceptions about the group, may provide insights as to how people who experience mental illness navigate help-seeking. OBJECTIVE: In two studies we aimed to: (1) identify factors (i.e., social identification and perceptions of the group) that relate to stigma that are also associated with the multi-step process of help-seeking; and (2) explore if these factors and aspects of the help-seeking process that occur prior to service utilization (such as illness and symptom recognition) are positively associated with behavioral service utilization. METHOD: Study 1 employed Amazon's Mechanical Turk to recruit 90 participants who reported being diagnosed with a mental illness and not actively seeking treatment (i.e., medication or seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist). Study 2 employed Facebook to recruit 131 participants who self-reported a mental illness diagnosis. RESULTS: Controlling for symptom severity, mental illness stigma was positively associated with social identification, which in turn positively impacted help-seeking in Study 1. Further, the relationship between social identification and help-seeking was strongest among those with a negative perception of the mental illness group. In Study 2, results indicated that social identification predicted behavioral service utilization, providing support for Study 1. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these findings suggest that social identification as a person with a mental illness is positively associated with the multi-step process of help-seeking and may be important for those who experience mental illness stigma to get help that enables and facilitates better functioning.

Social psychological research on prejudice as collective action supporting emergent ingroup members.

Why does social psychological research on prejudice change across time? We argue that scientific change is not simply a result of empirical evidence, technological developments, or social controversies, but rather emerges out of social change-driven shifts in how researchers categorize themselves and others within their larger societies. As mainstream researchers increasingly recategorize former outgroup members as part of a novel ingroup, prejudice research shifts in support of emergent ingroup members against their emergent outgroup opponents. Although social change-driven science results in valuable opportunities for researchers, it also results in significant risks for research - collective, scientific biases in the inclusion and exclusion of social groups in prejudice research that are not readily detected or managed by traditional controls. We present the Emergent Ingroup Model (EIM) to encourage reflection on shared biases, as well as to spark a broader conversation on how to strengthen our field for a rapidly changing and increasingly global world.

Are diverse societies less cohesive? Testing contact and mediated contact theories.

Previous research has demonstrated that there is a negative relationship between ethnic diversity in a local community and social cohesion. Often the way social cohesion is assessed, though, varies across studies and only some aspects of the construct are included (e.g., trust). The current research explores the relationship between diversity and social cohesion across a number of indicators of social cohesion including neighbourhood social capital, safety, belonging, generalized trust, and volunteering. Furthermore, social psychological theories concerning the role of positive contact and its impact on feelings of threat are investigated. Using a sample of 1070 third generation 'majority' Australians and structural equation modelling (SEM), findings suggest ethnic diversity is related to positive intergroup contact, and that contact showed beneficial impacts for some indicators of social cohesion both directly and indirectly through reducing perceived threat. When interethnic contact and perceived threat are included in the model there is no direct negative effect between diversity and social cohesion. The theoretical implications of these findings are outlined including the importance of facilitating opportunities for positive contact in diverse communities.

The Impact of School Climate and School Identification on Academic Achievement: Multilevel Modeling with Student and Teacher Data.

School climate is a leading factor in explaining student learning and achievement. Less work has explored the impact of both staff and student perceptions of school climate raising interesting questions about whether staff school climate experiences can add "value" to students' achievement. In the current research, multiple sources were integrated into a multilevel model, including staff self-reports, student self-reports, objective school records of academic achievement, and socio-economic demographics. Achievement was assessed using a national literacy and numeracy tests (N = 760 staff and 2,257 students from 17 secondary schools). In addition, guided by the "social identity approach," school identification is investigated as a possible psychological mechanism to explain the relationship between school climate and achievement. In line with predictions, results show that students' perceptions of school climate significantly explain writing and numeracy achievement and this effect is mediated by students' psychological identification with the school. Furthermore, staff perceptions of school climate explain students' achievement on numeracy, writing and reading tests (while accounting for students' responses). However, staff's school identification did not play a significant role. Implications of these findings for organizational, social, and educational research are discussed.

A cultural setting where the other-race effect on face recognition has no social-motivational component and derives entirely from lifetime perceptual experience.

Competing approaches to the other-race effect (ORE) see its primary cause as either a lack of motivation to individuate social outgroup members, or a lack of perceptual experience with other-race faces. Here, we argue that the evidence supporting the social-motivational approach derives from a particular cultural setting: a high socio-economic status group (typically US Whites) looking at the faces of a lower status group (US Blacks) with whom observers typically have at least moderate perceptual experience. In contrast, we test motivation-to-individuate instructions across five studies covering an extremely wide range of perceptual experience, in a cultural setting of more equal socio-economic status, namely Asian and Caucasian participants (N = 480) tested on Asian and Caucasian faces. We find no social-motivational component at all to the ORE, specifically: no reduction in the ORE with motivation instructions, including for novel images of the faces, and at all experience levels; no increase in correlation between own- and other-race face recognition, implying no increase in shared processes; and greater (not the predicted less) effort applied to distinguishing other-race faces than own-race faces under normal ("no instructions") conditions. Instead, the ORE was predicted by level of contact with the other-race. Our results reject both pure social-motivational theories and also the recent Categorization-Individuation model of Hugenberg, Young, Bernstein, and Sacco (2010). We propose a new dual-route approach to the ORE, in which there are two causes of the ORE-lack of motivation, and lack of experience--that contribute differently across varying world locations and cultural settings.

Shared identity is key to effective communication.

The ability to communicate with others is one of the most important human social functions, yet communication is not always investigated from a social perspective. This research examined the role that shared social identity plays in communication effectiveness using a minimal group paradigm. In two experiments, participants constructed a model using instructions that were said to be created by an ingroup or an outgroup member. Participants made models of objectively better quality when working from communications ostensibly created by an ingroup member (Experiments 1 and 2). However, this effect was attenuated when participants were made aware of a shared superordinate identity that included both the ingroup and the outgroup (Experiment 2). These findings point to the importance of shared social identity for effective communication and provide novel insights into the social psychology of communication.