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Article
National Identity, Implicit In-Group Evaluation, and Psychological Well-Being Among Emirati Women
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
  • Ian Grey, Zayed University
  • Justin Thomas, Zayed University
ORCID Identifiers

0000-0001-9773-2539

Document Type
Article
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.

Publisher
SAGE Publications Inc.
Keywords
  • Arab,
  • in-group,
  • public health,
  • social identity,
  • well-being
Scopus ID
85059512549
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
No
https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118812131
Citation Information
Ian Grey and Justin Thomas. "National Identity, Implicit In-Group Evaluation, and Psychological Well-Being Among Emirati Women" Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology Vol. 50 Iss. 2 (2019) p. 220 - 232 ISSN: <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/0022-0221" target="_blank">0022-0221</a>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/justin-thomas28211/8/