National Identity, Implicit In-Group Evaluation, and Psychological Well-Being Among Emirati Women

Author First name, Last name, Institution

Ian Grey, Zayed University
Justin Thomas, Zayed University

ORCID Identifiers

0000-0001-9773-2539

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Publication Date

2-1-2019

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2018. A sense of connectedness, and belonging to a valued social group (social identity processes), has been found to promote psychological well-being. This study, using implicit and explicit assessments, extends the exploration of social identity and well-being to citizens of the United Arab Emirates (Emiratis). In this cross-sectional correlational study, Emirati college women (N = 210), all of them bilingual (English/Arabic), performed an affective priming task designed to assess, implicitly, in-group (Emirati) preference (a positive bias toward the in-group relative to an out-group). Participants also completed the Multicomponent In-Group Identification Scale (MIIS), a measure of in-group identification and self-report measures of English/Arabic language proficiency. Participants also reported their psychological well-being using the World Health Organization’s well-being index. Implicit in-group preference and self-reported Arabic language dominance were independently predictive of higher levels of psychological well-being. The implicit measure was the strongest, most robust, predictor. Interventions aimed at maintaining or increasing a positive sense of a shared social identity may be a useful objective of public mental health strategy.

ISSN

0022-0221

Publisher

SAGE Publications Inc.

Volume

50

Issue

2

First Page

220

Last Page

232

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Keywords

Arab, in-group, public health, social identity, well-being

Scopus ID

85059512549

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Share

COinS