Opium of the people? National identification predicts well-being over time

Khan, SS ORCID: 0000-0001-7048-9786, Garnett, N ORCID: 0000-0002-3643-763X, Hult Khazaie, D, Liu, JH and Gil de Zúñiga, H (2019) Opium of the people? National identification predicts well-being over time. British Journal of Psychology, 111 (2). pp. 200-214. ISSN 0007-1269

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Abstract

Social group membership and its social-relational corollaries, for example, social contact, trust, and support, are prophylactic for health. Research has tended to focus on how direct social interactions between members of small-scale groups (i.e., a local sports team or community group) are conducive to positive health outcomes. The current study provides evidence from a longitudinal cross-cultural sample (N = 6,748; 18 countries/societies) that the prophylactic effect of group membership is not isolated to small-scale groups, and that members of groups do not have to directly interact, or in fact know of each other to benefit from membership. Our longitudinal analyses suggest that national identification (strength of association with the country/society of which one is a citizen) predicts lower anxiety and improved health; national identification was in fact almost as positively predictive of health status as anxiety was negatively predictive. The findings indicate that identification with large-scale groups, like small-scale groups, is palliative, and are discussed in terms of globalization and banal nationalism.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	anxiety; cross-cultural; cross-lagged panel modelling; health status; longitudinal; national identity; Humans; Personal Satisfaction; Social Identification; Anxiety; Health Status; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Middle Aged; Female; Male; Young Adult; anxiety; cross-cultural; cross-lagged panel modelling; health status; longitudinal; national identity; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anxiety; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Female; Health Status; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Personal Satisfaction; Social Identification; Young Adult; 5205 Social and Personality Psychology; 52 Psychology; Basic Behavioral and Social Science; Behavioral and Social Science; Generic health relevance; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anxiety; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Female; Health Status; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Personal Satisfaction; Social Identification; Young Adult; 1503 Business and Management; 1701 Psychology; 1702 Cognitive Sciences; Business & Management; Experimental Psychology; 3505 Human resources and industrial relations; 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour; 52 Psychology; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Divisions:	Education
Publisher:	Wiley
Date of acceptance:	1 January 2019
Date of first compliant Open Access:	27 October 2026
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2026 13:32
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2026 13:32
DOI or ID number:	10.1111/bjop.12398
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29681

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