Cruwys et a 221 In light of this hypothesis,there is a final point to be made confrontation(S.A.Haslam&Reicher,2006).and discrimi about the utility of the SIA for depression.Unlike most clini- nation (Branscombe,Schmitt,&Harvey,1999).In large. cal models, the approach conceptualize self-concept and able and contex The physical and mental health benefits of social identifi because social identification is a more fluid-and hence. cation are therefore well-established and not specific to potentially treatment-responsive orted cognitionso ack or so these dieamenlo least as important in this domain.In this section.we review Segrin,2000).social identity is generally highly responsive evidence that speaks to this possibility and to each of the six to changes in a person's social or environmental context hypotheses proposed in the previous section.From this fore,social identity interventions that target an indi review.two the nes are apparer +l- First,that current evidenc that much cho full ment (HelliwellBarrington-Leigh.2012).All this sug and the material int Evidence for HI:Social identification with meaningful groups will predict lower levels of depression. depres on. Only a handful of previous studies have included measures mpirical Evidence:Social Identity and or manipulations of social identification along with a depen The sia.on one hand.and the clinical literature on de tities (e. )hat have a validated clinical m onon the ther.rta owith e idicaoofepr (e.g.negative mood)that have validated social identification works.They are es ons"for me and depression has barely commenced construction. here is,however,evidence tha l-being mas s is pro es h eediesaicnion,nabudhnceofempcaleidence high social identification with a valued group predicts fewer depression symptoms.This negative correlation persists For e across divers rang Reynolds,Turner,Bromhead,&Subasic,2009),and when measuring identification with diverse groups including fam ily (Sani et al.,2 0),tertiary inst n that build social identity have been shown to improve well decline (Gleibs, change in depression symptoms over time more strongly H vice versa,although the effect remains significant in et al.,2012: Knight Social identification has also been found to buffer individu mately half used non-diagnostic measures of depr als from the negative impact of a range of stressors,includ they nevertheless tell a consistent story that speaks to the 30 Cruwys et al. 221 In light of this hypothesis, there is a final point to be made about the utility of the SIA for depression. Unlike most clini￾cal models, the approach conceptualizes self-concept and social identity as fundamentally malleable and context￾dependent. From the perspective of developing effective interventions, this malleability has considerable potential, because social identification is a more fluid—and hence, potentially treatment-responsive—construct than, say, dis￾torted cognitions or lack of social skills. Although these lat￾ter constructs might be altered through extended therapeutic work over months or even years (Kovacs & Beck, 1978; Segrin, 2000), social identity is generally highly responsive to changes in a person’s social or environmental context. Therefore, social identity interventions that target an indi￾vidual’s community or environment are likely to have ongo￾ing therapeutic benefits over and above those that can be achieved in brief one-on-one medical or psychological treat￾ment (Helliwell & Barrington-Leigh, 2012). All this sug￾gests that social identification—and the material and psychological factors that feed into it—may be particularly suitable as a target for therapeutic intervention to counteract depression. Empirical Evidence: Social Identity and Depression The SIA, on one hand, and the clinical literature on depres￾sion, on the other, each represent substantial research disci￾plines comprising hundreds of researchers and thousands of published works. They are established fields—“pylons” for the bridge that we propose to build between the two. However, the bridge itself between social identity and depression has barely commenced construction. There is, however, evidence that social identification is a powerful predictor of mental health and well-being more generally. Therefore, although clinical depression has received less attention, an abundance of empirical evidence indicates that social identity is implicated in a range of related health phenomena. For example, along the lines of H2, there is evidence that the number of social identities that people have prior to a stroke is a good predictor of their recovery and well-being 6 months following the event (C. Haslam et al., 2008). Acquiring new group memberships is similarly protective following trauma (Jones et al., 2011; Jones et al., 2012). Among older adults, group interventions that build social identity have been shown to improve well￾being, reduce falls, and slow cognitive decline (Gleibs, Haslam, Haslam, & Jones, 2011; Gleibs, Haslam, Jones, et al., 2011; C. Haslam, Haslam et al., 2010; C. Haslam, Haslam, et al., 2012; Knight, Haslam, & Haslam, 2010). Social identification has also been found to buffer individu￾als from the negative impact of a range of stressors, includ￾ing illness (S. A. Haslam, Jetten, & Waghorn, 2009), memory loss (Jetten, Haslam, Pugliese, Tonks, & Haslam, 2010), confrontation (S. A. Haslam & Reicher, 2006), and discrimi￾nation (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999). In large, representative community samples social identification has also been found to predict life satisfaction and general well￾being (Helliwell & Barrington-Leigh, 2012). The physical and mental health benefits of social identifi￾cation are therefore well-established and not specific to depression. However, given the centrality of social relation￾ships to the etiology, symptomatology, and treatment of depression, it seems plausible that social identification is at least as important in this domain. In this section, we review evidence that speaks to this possibility and to each of the six hypotheses proposed in the previous section. From this review, two themes are apparent: First, that current evidence is predominantly supportive of these hypotheses; and sec￾ond, that much remains to be done to test these hypotheses fully. Evidence for H1: Social identification with meaningful groups will predict lower levels of depression. Only a handful of previous studies have included measures or manipulations of social identification along with a depen￾dent measure of depression. For the most part, the literature consists either of studies with crude indicators of social iden￾tities (e.g., ethnicity) that have a validated clinical measure of depression, or studies with crude indicators of depression (e.g., negative mood) that have validated social identification measures. Nevertheless, we identified 16 relevant studies that have directly examined the relationship between degree of social identification with valued groups and depression symptoms, with a total of more than 2,700 participants. More detail of each of the studies is provided in Table 2. All studies report a negative relationship between these variables, such that high social identification with a valued group predicts fewer depression symptoms. This negative correlation persists across diverse populations ranging from Norwegian heart surgery patients (S. A. Haslam, O’Brien, Jetten, Vormedal, & Penna, 2005) to Australian school students (Bizumic, Reynolds, Turner, Bromhead, & Subasic, 2009), and when measuring identification with diverse groups including fam￾ily (Sani et al., 2010), tertiary institution (Cameron, 1999) and ethnic group (Branscombe et al., 1999). Some of this work also demonstrates that social identification predicts change in depression symptoms over time more strongly than vice versa, although the effect remains significant in both directions (Iyer et al., 2009; Cruwys et al., in press). Although these studies were correlational and approxi￾mately half used non-diagnostic measures of depression, they nevertheless tell a consistent story that speaks to the protective role of group memberships in preventing depres￾sive symptoms. This story is also consistent with evidence Downloaded from psr.sagepub.com at Remen University of China on September 6, 2015