Shared identity predicts enhanced health at a mass gathering

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between a shared identity and health in a longitudinal study of a month-long pilgrimage in north India, finding that self-reported health (measured before, during, and after the event) was better at the event than before, and although it reduced on returning home, it remained higher than before the event.

Abstract: Identifying with a group can impact (positively) upon group members' health. This can be explained (in part) through the social relations that a shared identity allows. We investigated the relationship between a shared identity and health in a longitudinal study of a month-long pilgrimage in north India. Questionnaire data (N = 416) showed that self-reported health (measured before, during, and after the event) was better at the event than before, and although it reduced on returning home, it remained higher than before the event. This trajectory was predicted by data concerning pilgrims' perceptions of a shared identity with other pilgrims at the event. We also found evidence that a shared identity amongst pilgrims had an indirect effect on changes in self-assessed health via the belief one had closer relations with one's fellow pilgrims. We discuss the implications of these data for our understandings of the role of shared identity in social relations and health.

Summary

Introduction

• Particular emphasis has been paid to the finding that the number and quality of an individual’s social relationships affect health (the more, the better) and how these social relationships are bound up with their group memberships.
• Indeed, since the authors spend much of their time with others, it has been argued they should study health in group settings (Peterson, Park, & Sweeney, 2008).
• The authors examined how participation in a large-scale collective event (a Hindu pilgrimage in north India) impacted participants’ (self-reported) health.

Keywords

• Longitudinal research, mass gatherings, self-assessed health, shared identity, social relationships Paper received 11 April 2014; revised version accepted 11 September 2014.
• 1University of Dundee, UK 2University of St. Andrews, UK 3University of Allahabad, India 4Queen’s University Belfast, UK 5University of Exeter, UK Corresponding author: Nick Hopkins, School of Psychology, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK.
• N.p.hopkins@dundee.ac.uk at UNIV LIBRARY DUNDEE(FAST) on March 13, 2015gpi.sagepub.com, also known as Email.

Group Processes and Health

• The social identity perspective on group processes (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987) argues that although the authors sometimes think of ourselves and others in terms of personal identities, they can also define ourselves in terms of their social group memberships (e.g., as a Catholic, as a Manchester United supporter, etc.).
• In a phrase, shared social identity with others in groups constitutes a “social cure” (Jetten, Haslam, & Haslam, 2012).
• As far as the authors know there is no work that takes ordinary people at two time points and which considers how participation in group activities (and related social identity processes)—at a third time in-between these two other time points—explains any change in health and wellbeing from before participation to after participation.

Gatherings

• There is much to be gained from investigating large-scale mass gatherings.
• The concept of a shared identity does not only entail a sense of identification with a group but also implies that crowd members view themselves and each other as identifying with the same social group and thus entails a sense of mutual recognition as common category members (Neville & Reicher, 2011).
• This can be misleading (Drury, Novelli, & Stott, 2013).
• A sense of shared identity at mass gathering events cannot be assumed and many empirical analyses of pilgrimage events show them to be characterised by sectarian division and factionalism (Messerschmidt & Sharma, 1981).
• So too, how such perceptions and experiences predict mass gathering participants’ well-being at the event (and after) is not known.

4 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

• Easily distinguishable (e.g., by their living area in the Mela site and their routines) and differentiate themselves from others attending the Mela for only a few days (Hopkins et al., in press).
• This provides a basis for Kalpwasis to see each other as sharing a social identity; and interview research (Hopkins et al., in press) reveals this shared identification can be manifested (for example) in their mutual greetings (for a discussion of the role of normatively prescribed greetings in the mutual recognition of identities, see Hopkins & Greenwood, 2013).
• As noted before, such a sense of shared identity is not inevitable and the authors consider how variations in this are associated with participants’ reports of their social relations with others, and how these in turn are associated with their self-reported health at and after the event.

Sample

• The sample conmprised 416 Kalpwasi pilgrims participating in the 2011 Magh Mela.
• On average they had attended the event on 10 previous occasions.

Measures

• Data were gathered through an orally administered questionnaire.
• The scales were developed through extensive piloting and were translated and back-translated (English–Hindi– English) by two independent groups.
• The final items were piloted again to ensure intelligibility.
• Answers were obtained on a 5-point scale illustrated with drawings of five glasses containing increasing levels of water (ranging from empty to full).

Procedure

• Initially, participants were recruited through local contacts in the rural areas surrounding Allahabad.
• These then suggested others in the neighbourhood who could be approached.
• The T2 survey was administered at the height of the event (between the 26th of January and 9th of February, 2011).

Descriptive Statistics and Measurement Properties

• The dimensionality of their T2 process variables (shared identity and relationality) was assessed using principal axis factoring (PAF) which is particularly suitable for measures that have not been used before (and as the authors were working in the distinctive cultural context of a Hindu pilgrimage event, their questionnaire items were necessarily created specifically for this study).
• PAF (with oblique rotation and explaining 64.46% of the total item variance) showed the items loaded onto two discrete variables corresponding to shared identity and relationality (eigenvalues: 5.17 and 1.97).
• The means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s alphas, and partial correlations between the measures (controlling for age, gender, caste and at UNIV LIBRARY DUNDEE(FAST) on March 13, 2015gpi.sagepub.comDownloaded from.

6 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

• Marital status, and education) are reported in Table 2.
• This shows that the reliabilities for all measures ranged between good and excellent across the three time points.
• It is also noteworthy that whereas the partial correlations revealed positive and significant bivariate relations between shared identity, relationality, and SAH at T2 and T3, neither shared identity nor relationality were correlated with SAH at T1.
• First, the authors examined the trajectory to participants’ selfreported health over T1, T2, and T3.
• Second, the authors examined the degree to which their process variables (shared identity and relationality) explained variation in this trajectory.

The Role of Shared Identity and Relationality: Regression Analyses

• In order to investigate the role of their T2 process measures in explaining these health data the authors used hierarchical regression analyses.
• The R2 change value was significant at all steps but the third, which indicates that the block consisting of the dummycoded measures assessing education did not explain a significant proportion of variance in the model.
• Similarly, the standardised beta weights indicate that caste and marital status were nonsignificant at every step of the model that they were entered.
• Likewise, age was significant at every step, with younger participants experiencing greater levels of T2 SAH.
• Given that the introduction of relationality reduced the effect of shared identity on T2 SAH, the authors investigated whether shared identity had an indirect effect on T2 SAH via relationality.

10 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

• Repeating these analytic steps showed that shared identity was a significant predictor of T2 SI-H (Table 5), but that relationality added nothing.
• In similar vein, analyses of the T3 data showed that shared identity was a significant predictor of participants’.
• Thus far these four regressions provide good evidence for the role of shared identity in explaining both T1–T2 and T1–T3 health improvements (for both SAH and SI-H).
• With regard to SAH (but not SI-H) the authors also have evidence for the role of relationality in mediating this effect of shared identity.

Modelling the Curvilinear Trajectory to Health: Latent Growth Curve Analyses

• The LGCM analyses were conducted in two steps.
• The second factor represented the slope (rate of change) in SAH from T1 to T3 (and the curvilinear change trajectory was specified by fitting a model with the slope factor loadings for T1, T2, and T3, being 0, 2, and 1, respectively).
• In the second step, the authors investigated the role played by their two process variables (shared identity and relationality) in explaining this trajectory.

12 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

• SAH from T1 to T3 was a direct function of the degree to which participants experienced their interactions and relations with other Kalpwasi pilgrims to be respectful, understanding, and supportive, and that this latter was a function of participants’ perceptions of shared identity with other Kalpwasis.
• As in their earlier analyses the authors also investigated the adequacy of alternative models in which the ordering of the process variables was reversed.
• As relationality did not add anything to the explanation of the T1–T2, nor the T1–T3 changes in SI-H, the authors investigated the symptom data with a simplified LGCM—one that only included shared identity as a predictor of an curvilinear trajectory in symptoms.

Discussion

• The authors findings provide good support for their hypotheses.
• First, pilgrims’ self-assessed health (SAH) was higher during the event than before, and declined from during the event to after it was over.
• Yet it remained higher after than before.
• This implies the improvement associated with participation in the mass gathering cannot be put down to a contrast effect (the Mela is so gruelling that, once home, people feel better as a result).
• Second, the authors found that the improvement in SAH and in SI-H from before (T1) to during the event (T2), and from before (T1) to after the event (T3) were explained by participants’ sense of shared social identity during the event.

14 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

• For the SI-H data the role of shared identity in predicting the slope was marginal.
• They also reported engaging in riskier behaviour (e.g., binge drinking).

Notes

• The authors found no meaningful differences in the T1 data between those who provided data at the three time points and those who did not.
• As this term is rather vague and “self-assessed health” is more transparent, the authors now prefer the latter label.
• Interestingly, the covariance between the intercept and slope remained negative and significant in the second growth curve model (β = −.55, p < .05), indicating a greater curvilinear increase in SAH from T1 to T3 among Kalpwasis who exhibited lower levels of T1 SAH.
• In other words it seems that the positive effect of shared identity and relationality experienced in the event (T2) was most keenly felt by those with poorer T1 SAH.
• We also investigated how the model fit was affected by adding a direct path from shared identity to the slope.the authors.the authors.

18 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

• The performance of RMSEA in models with small degrees of freedom.
• Participation in mass gatherings can benefit well-being: Longitudinal and control data from a North Indian Hindu pilgrimage event.

Figures

Figure 2. Second LGC model: Predicting the antecedents of the change in self-assessed health across T1, T2, and T3. Note. SAH = self-assessed health.

Figure 1. First LGC model: Estimating the change in self-assessed health across T1, T2, and T3. Note. SAH = self-assessed health.

Table 1. Factor structure of shared identity and relationality.

Full text

University of Dundee
Shared identity predicts enhanced health at a mass gathering
Khan, Sammyh S.; Hopkins, Nicholas; Reicher, Stephen ; Tewari, Shruti; Srinivasan,
Narayanan; Stevenson, Clifford
Published in:
Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
DOI:
10.1177/1368430214556703
Publication date:
2015
Licence:
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Khan, S. S., Hopkins, N., Reicher, S., Tewari, S., Srinivasan, N., & Stevenson, C. (2015). Shared identity
predicts enhanced health at a mass gathering. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 18(4), 504-522.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430214556703
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DOI: 10.1177/1368430214556703
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G
P
I
R
Group Processes &
Intergroup Relations
Recent social psychological research highlights a
link between the nature of our social relations
and our health (Cohen, 2004; Helliwell & Putnam,
2004; Smith & Christakis, 2008). Particular
emphasis has been paid to the finding that the
number and quality of an individual’s social rela-
tionships affect health (the more, the better) and
how these social relationships are bound up with
our group memberships. Indeed, since we spend
much of our time with others, it has been argued
we should study health in group settings
(Peterson, Park, & Sweeney, 2008).
Our research sought to do exactly this. We
examined how participation in a large-scale
collective event (a Hindu pilgrimage in north
India) impacted participants’ (self-reported)
health. As reported elsewhere (Tewari, Khan,
Hopkins, Srinivasan, & Reicher, 2012), pilgrims
reported better health after the event than a
Shared identity predicts enhanced
health at a mass gathering
Sammyh S. Khan,
1,2,5
Nick Hopkins,
1
Stephen Reicher,
2
Shruti Tewari,
3
Narayanan Srinivasan,
3
and Clifford Stevenson
4
Abstract
Identifying with a group can impact (positively) upon group members’ health. This can be explained
(in part) through the social relations that a shared identity allows. We investigated the relationship
between a shared identity and health in a longitudinal study of a month-long pilgrimage in north India.
Questionnaire data (N = 416) showed that self-reported health (measured before, during, and after
the event) was better at the event than before, and although it reduced on returning home, it remained
higher than before the event. This trajectory was predicted by data concerning pilgrims’ perceptions
of a shared identity with other pilgrims at the event. We also found evidence that a shared identity
amongst pilgrims had an indirect effect on changes in self-assessed health via the belief one had closer
relations with one’s fellow pilgrims. We discuss the implications of these data for our understandings
of the role of shared identity in social relations and health.
Keywords
longitudinal research, mass gatherings, self-assessed health, shared identity, social relationships
Paper received 11 April 2014; revised version accepted 11 September 2014.
1
University of Dundee, UK
2
University of St. Andrews, UK
3
University of Allahabad, India
4
Queen’s University Belfast, UK
5
University of Exeter, UK
Corresponding author:
Nick Hopkins, School of Psychology, University of Dundee,
DD1 4HN, UK.
Email: n.p.hopkins@dundee.ac.uk
556703
GPI0010.1177/1368430214556703Group Processes & Intergroup RelationsKhan et al.
research-article2014
Article
at UNIV LIBRARY DUNDEE(FAST) on March 13, 2015gpi.sagepub.comDownloaded from

2 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
non-participating control group. In the current
paper we address the social psychological mech-
anisms behind this effect of participation.
Group Processes and Health
The social identity perspective on group pro-
cesses (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, &
Wetherell, 1987) argues that although we some-
times think of ourselves and others in terms of
personal identities, we can also define ourselves
in terms of our social group memberships (e.g.,
as a Catholic, as a Manchester United supporter,
etc.). When we think about ourselves and others
as members of a common group with a shared
identity we are transformed from an aggregate
of individuals into a psychological group (Hogg,
1992; Turner et al., 1987). This psychological
transformation is consequential. A shared iden-
tity results in: greater trust, respect, and co-
operation (Tyler & Blader, 2000), in mutual
social influence (Abrams, Wetherell, Cochrane,
Hogg, & Turner, 1990), and in greater support
for each other (Levine, Prosser, Evans, &
Reicher, 2005; Wakefield et al., 2011). It also
shapes individuals’ expectations of support
(Haslam, 2014; Haslam, Reicher, & Levine,
2012).
Drawing on this logic, social identity research-
ers argue that our health is affected by the degree
to which we identify with others in terms of a
shared social identity. This sense of “we-ness”
with other group members leads us to see others
as a source of support, which results in better
health and well-being. In a phrase, shared social
identity with others in groups constitutes a “social
cure” (Jetten, Haslam, & Haslam, 2012).
Illustrating this logic, Haslam, O’Brien, Jetten,
Vormedal, and Penna (2005) showed that
amongst those working in stressful jobs, the more
individuals identified with their fellows, the more
they felt they could cope, and the better their
well-being (see too Wegge, van Dick, Fisher,
Wecking, & Moltzen, 2006). Similar effects have
been reported for the elderly living in residential
care homes (Gleibs et al., 2011) and soldiers in
army units (Sani, Hererra, Wakefield, Boroch, &
Gulyas, 2012). Moreover, Sani et al. (2012) show
it really is identification with the group as an
entity (rather than the amount of contact with
individuals in the group) that is important.
Although addressing a range of health out-
comes (e.g., depression: Cruwys et al., 2014;
stroke recovery: Haslam et al., 2008), for differ-
ent demographics (e.g., the elderly: Gleibs et al.,
2011), in different contexts (e.g., work teams:
Haslam et al., 2005; theatre groups: Haslam,
Jetten, & Waghorn, 2009), such research shares
various characteristics. First, studies have
concentrated on small face-to-face groups in
which people develop intense interpersonal rela-
tionships. However, one of the strengths of the
social identity approach is that it was developed
to explain how members of large-scale social
categories (e.g., a nation) can cohere (see
Reicher, Spears, & Haslam, 2010). That is, it
accounts for solidarities between strangers. This
raises the question of whether participation in
mass collective events, as well as small groups,
could also be associated with positive health
outcomes. If so, the theoretical significance of
the concept of a shared social identity would be
more clearly demonstrated.
Second, with some notable exceptions (e.g.,
Cruwys et al., 2014; Haslam et al., 2009), existing
studies examining group identification and health
are generally cross-sectional and rarely measure
health change over time or how social identity-
related processes are relevant to explaining that
change. Moreover, if they do, the research either
takes the form of an intervention designed to
help people already experiencing difficulty (e.g.,
depression: Cruwys et al., 2014) or considers how
people’s prior level of social identification with a
group is relevant to well-being over a period of
time (e.g., burnout in coworkers: Haslam et al.,
2009). As far as we know there is no work that
takes ordinary people at two time points and
which considers how participation in group activ-
ities (and related social identity processes)—at a
third time in-between these two other time
points—explains any change in health and well-
being from before participation to after
participation.
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Khan et al. 3
Third, with only rare exceptions (e.g., Kellezi
& Reicher, 2012; Khan et al., 2014) research has
been conducted in Europe, Australia, and North
America. This raises questions concerning the
generalisability of social identity research in gen-
eral to large areas of the world (Hopkins &
Reicher, 2011).
Our previous research addressed some of
these questions. Tewari et al. (2012) found that
after attending a month-long pilgrimage event,
pilgrims reported better self-reported health
than a similar sample who did not participate.
As there was no difference between these two
groups prior to the event it appears that partici-
pation in the festival contributed to the post-
event difference in health outcomes. This goes
some way to addressing the first and third of
our concerns listed before. However, the sec-
ond concern remains. Analysing differences
between two groups (pilgrims and nonpilgrim
controls) before and after the event cannot
address what aspects of collective participation
are important and hence when collective par-
ticipation will (or will not) have a positive health
outcome. Indeed, it is conceivable that the pil-
grims reported better health than controls
because they were relieved to be home after a
physically and psychologically demanding event
(in which case group processes of whatever
sort are irrelevant).
Accordingly, this paper addresses the social
processes that could underlie the positive effect
of mass gathering participation. This entails
reporting data obtained from pilgrim participants
whilst they were at the event concerning (a) their
experience of a shared identity with other
pilgrims, and (b) their social relations with other
pilgrims (what we refer to as “relationality”).
Specifically, we explored the degree to which
between-individual variation in the experience of
these two constructs explained between-individ-
ual differences in the longitudinal trajectory to
participants’ self-reported health. That is, we
report analyses of individual variation in the
experience of social relations in the event to test
a process model of collective participation and
health outcomes.
Shared Identity at Mass
Gatherings
There is much to be gained from investigating
large-scale mass gatherings. The fact they bring
together large numbers of people who have not
met before allows investigation of the degree to
which their social relations with each other are
transformed through sharing a common social
identity. The concept of a shared identity does not
only entail a sense of identification with a group
but also implies that crowd members view them-
selves and each other as identifying with the same
social group and thus entails a sense of mutual
recognition as common category members
(Neville & Reicher, 2011). Evidence suggests such
a shared identity may arise for various reasons. For
example, although the behaviour of people in
emergencies is often assumed to be selfish and
individualistic, this can be misleading (Drury,
Novelli, & Stott, 2013). Interview research with
emergency survivors suggests that many experi-
enced a shared social identity and that this resulted
in mutual helping (Drury, Cocking, & Reicher,
2009).
However, a sense of shared identity at mass
gathering events cannot be assumed and many
empirical analyses of pilgrimage events show
them to be characterised by sectarian division and
factionalism (Messerschmidt & Sharma, 1981).
This implies that the degree to which those
attending a mass gathering actually experience a
sense of shared identity is an empirical issue. So
too, how such perceptions and experiences pre-
dict mass gathering participants’ well-being at the
event (and after) is not known.
The Prayag Magh Mela
Our research was conducted at the Prayag Magh
Mela in northern India. Several millions attend
this event for a few days of its month-long dura-
tion. However, several hundred thousands remain
for the full month. Known as Kalpwasis these lat-
ter pilgrims live in basic conditions exposed to
various stressors (e.g., cold and noise: Pandey
et al., 2014; Shankar et al., 2013). Kalpwasis are
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4 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
easily distinguishable (e.g., by their living area in
the Mela site and their routines) and differentiate
themselves from others attending the Mela for
only a few days (Hopkins et al., in press). This
provides a basis for Kalpwasis to see each other
as sharing a social identity; and interview research
(Hopkins et al., in press) reveals this shared iden-
tification can be manifested (for example) in their
mutual greetings (for a discussion of the role
of normatively prescribed greetings in the mutual
recognition of identities, see Hopkins &
Greenwood, 2013).
However, as noted before, such a sense of
shared identity is not inevitable and we consider
how variations in this are associated with partici-
pants’ reports of their social relations with oth-
ers, and how these in turn are associated with
their self-reported health at and after the event.
Hypotheses
We hypothesised that to the degree that Kalpwasi
pilgrims perceived a shared identity amongst
Kalpwasis, they would experience more support-
ive social relations and better self-reported health
at and after the event (compared to before the
event). Specifically, we predicted a curvilinear tra-
jectory to participants’ self-reported health from
before to after the event (with it peaking during
the event), and that the more participants per-
ceived a shared identity at the event: (a) the
greater the pre-event to during-event health
boost; (b) the greater the pre-event to post-event
health boost; and (c) the greater the curvilinear
trajectory in participants’ self-reported health.
Method
Sample
The sample conmprised 416 Kalpwasi pilgrims
participating in the 2011 Magh Mela. On average
they had attended the event on 10 previous occa-
sions. Their age ranged between 28 and 92 years
(M = 64.38, SD = 9.32 years); 237 (57.0%) were
female; 384 (92.3%) belonged to the general caste
(GC) category; and 32 (7.7%) to the other backward
class (OBC) category (OBC is a categorisation
referring to lower castes); 327 (78.6%) were mar-
ried and 89 (21.4%) widowed; 177 were illiterate
(42.5%), 192 (46.2%) held primary to intermedi-
ate education and 47 (11.3%) were university edu-
cated. Data were gathered at three time points:
pre-event (T1), during the event (T2), and post-
event (T3).
1
Measures
Data were gathered through an orally adminis-
tered (Hindi) questionnaire. The scales were
developed through extensive piloting and were
translated and back-translated (English–Hindi–
English) by two independent groups. Any differ-
ences in the translations were resolved by revising
the items. The final items were piloted again to
ensure intelligibility.
The questionnaires were administered by a
team of 10 Hindi-speaking field investigators at
three time points. On each occasion participants
reported their health. During the event, they also
reported on their perceptions of shared identity
and inter-Kalpwasis relationships. Answers were
obtained on a 5-point scale illustrated with draw-
ings of five glasses containing increasing levels of
water (ranging from empty to full). These were
anchored: 1 = not at all and 5 = completely (which
conceptually translates into English as a lot). The
scale items were as follows:
Self-assessed health (SAH). Participants completed
three items based on the core module of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(2000) Health Related Quality of Life Measure
(CDC HRQOL-14): “Over the last week, how
would you describe your physical health”; “Over
the last week, how would you describe your state
of mind”; “Over the last week, how would you
describe your energy levels?”
2
Symptoms of ill-health (SI-H). Participants com-
pleted six items taken from a scale developed for
use in the Indian subcontinent (Ruback, Pandey,
& Begum, 1997) to capture something of the
somatisation of stress believed to be particularly
important in non-Western settings (Kirmayer &
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Frequently asked questions

Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "Shared identity predicts enhanced health at a mass gathering" ?

The authors investigated the relationship between a shared identity and health in a longitudinal study of a month-long pilgrimage in north India. The authors discuss the implications of these data for their understandings of the role of shared identity in social relations and health. 

Q2. What was the effect of shared identity on the T2 SAH?

Shared identity and relationality were significant predictors at the fourth and fifth steps (respectively) and the effect of shared identity was suppressed by the entry of relationality. 

Q3. What is the role of shared identity in the slope?

With regard to the role of shared identity the authors found that without the covariates shared identity was a very marginal predictor of the slope (intercept: β = −.08, p = .24, slope: β = −.06, p = .10). 

Q4. What was the fit for the model?

The authors used the comparative fit index (CFI), the root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA), and the standardised root mean squared residual (SRMR) to evaluate model fit. 

Q5. What is the effect of the kalpwasi pilgrims on their health?

The authors hypothesised that to the degree that Kalpwasi pilgrims perceived a shared identity amongst Kalpwasis, they would experience more supportive social relations and better self-reported health at and after the event (compared to before the event). 

Q6. What was the effect of shared identity and relationality on the T2 SAH?

Shared identity and relationality were significant predictors at the fourth and fifth steps (respectively) and the effect of shared identity was suppressed by the entry of relationality. 

Q7. What is the social identity perspective on group processes?

The social identity perspective on group processes (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987) argues that although the authors sometimes think of ourselves and others in terms of personal identities, the authors can also define ourselves in terms of their social group memberships (e.g., as a Catholic, as a Manchester United supporter, etc.). 

Q8. What is the way to evaluate the fit of the model to the observed data?

Values of > .90 for the CFI and < .08 for the RMSEA and SRMR indicate acceptable fit between a specified model and observed data (Hu & Bentler, 1999; MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996). 

Q9. how did the bootstrapping procedure reveal an indirect effect of shared identity on T2 SAH?

Using a bootstrapping procedure (PROCESS; Hayes, 2012) with 95% confidence intervals with 5,000 bootstrap samples, the bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrapped confidence intervals revealed an indirect effect of shared identity on T2 SAH via relationality (B = .08, 95% CI [.041, .137]). 

Q10. What is the significance of the beta weights?

the standardised beta weights indicate that caste and marital status were nonsignificant at every step of the model that they were entered. 

Q11. Why do the authors not rely on the chi-square statistic in evaluating model fit?

Although the authors report the chi-square statistic forthe models, the authors do not rely on it in evaluating model fit because of its sensitivity to large sample sizes (> 200; Kline, 2005). 

Q12. what is the role of shared identity in predicting the slope?

with the covariates included in the model, the role of shared identity in predicting the slope was stronger and approached significance (intercept: β = −.02, p = .84, slope: β = −.08, p = .052).at UNIV LIBRARY DUNDEE(FAST) on March 13, 2015gpi.sagepub.com