Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to Adjustment
Millions of forced migrants settling in host countries often struggle to adjust to their new life. As their inclusion and adjustment within receiving societies has become a global social challenge, studying the factors that support their successful transition is an important topic of research inquir...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/1/55 |
| _version_ | 1797358802946752512 |
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| author | Angelos Panagiotopoulos Vassilis Pavlopoulos |
| author_facet | Angelos Panagiotopoulos Vassilis Pavlopoulos |
| author_sort | Angelos Panagiotopoulos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Millions of forced migrants settling in host countries often struggle to adjust to their new life. As their inclusion and adjustment within receiving societies has become a global social challenge, studying the factors that support their successful transition is an important topic of research inquiry. The present three-wave longitudinal study examined the role of group belonging and social identification in facilitating the transition of 60 sub-Saharan African asylum-seekers to Greece. Drawing upon the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC), we investigated how multiple group memberships before migration, social identity continuity, and social identity gain related to their adjustment over 8 months. On the between-person level, multiple group belonging before migration indirectly contributed to better person-average levels of sociocultural adjustment, physical health functioning and satisfaction, psychological distress, and life satisfaction, by way of higher person-average levels of social identity continuity and/or social identity gain. However, multiple groups before migration also had a direct negative effect on the overall levels of psychological distress. On the within-person level, positive changes in social identity continuity and gain were related to positive changes in different adjustment-related outcomes over time. Our findings are consistent with SIMIC and highlight the importance of group belonging and associated social identities in forced migrants’ transition, in ways that may pave the way for the development of social identity interventions to promote their health, well-being, and successful integration. Future longitudinal and experimental evidence with larger and more diverse samples of forced migrants is needed to establish the generalizability and causality of the observed associations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:06:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-818b88c9735c478790aadc67628e2021 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:06:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-818b88c9735c478790aadc67628e20212024-01-10T14:57:26ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322023-12-011215510.3390/healthcare12010055Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to AdjustmentAngelos Panagiotopoulos0Vassilis Pavlopoulos1Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 157 72 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Psychology, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 157 72 Athens, GreeceMillions of forced migrants settling in host countries often struggle to adjust to their new life. As their inclusion and adjustment within receiving societies has become a global social challenge, studying the factors that support their successful transition is an important topic of research inquiry. The present three-wave longitudinal study examined the role of group belonging and social identification in facilitating the transition of 60 sub-Saharan African asylum-seekers to Greece. Drawing upon the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC), we investigated how multiple group memberships before migration, social identity continuity, and social identity gain related to their adjustment over 8 months. On the between-person level, multiple group belonging before migration indirectly contributed to better person-average levels of sociocultural adjustment, physical health functioning and satisfaction, psychological distress, and life satisfaction, by way of higher person-average levels of social identity continuity and/or social identity gain. However, multiple groups before migration also had a direct negative effect on the overall levels of psychological distress. On the within-person level, positive changes in social identity continuity and gain were related to positive changes in different adjustment-related outcomes over time. Our findings are consistent with SIMIC and highlight the importance of group belonging and associated social identities in forced migrants’ transition, in ways that may pave the way for the development of social identity interventions to promote their health, well-being, and successful integration. Future longitudinal and experimental evidence with larger and more diverse samples of forced migrants is needed to establish the generalizability and causality of the observed associations.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/1/55asylum-seekersforced migrationsocial identity changeadjustmentlife changeSIMIC |
| spellingShingle | Angelos Panagiotopoulos Vassilis Pavlopoulos Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to Adjustment Healthcare asylum-seekers forced migration social identity change adjustment life change SIMIC |
| title | Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to Adjustment |
| title_full | Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to Adjustment |
| title_fullStr | Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to Adjustment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to Adjustment |
| title_short | Group Belonging and Social Identities in the Transition of Asylum-Seekers in Greece: Longitudinal Pathways to Adjustment |
| title_sort | group belonging and social identities in the transition of asylum seekers in greece longitudinal pathways to adjustment |
| topic | asylum-seekers forced migration social identity change adjustment life change SIMIC |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/1/55 |
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