TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the impact of group identity at university on psychological and behavioural outcomes
AU - Spiridon, Elena
AU - Davies, Jean
AU - Kaye, Linda
AU - Nicolson, Rod
AU - Tang, Bryan
AU - Tan, Angel
AU - Ransom, Heather
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - With respect to supporting student well-being and success, the current research developed a peer support scheme, built on the principles of Social Identity Theory (SIT). This was targeted towards first year undergraduate psychology students, in which measures of collective identity, sense of belonging, group efficacy, happiness and resilience were obtained, along with attendance and academic attainment. Following one academic year of being part of our peer support scheme, participants (N = 90) completed a questionnaire and consented to their attendance and attainment data to be used. It was found that students’ collective identity was positively related to their sense of belonging, group efficacy beliefs and happiness. Further, the sense of belonging was a reliable predictor of happiness, but not attendance or academic attainment. Therefore, there is some evidence to suggest that an SIT-driven peer support scheme can support students’ psychosocial well-being, although more is needed to ascertain whether this could be developed further to observe any course-related outcomes. Theoretical contributions to SIT are therefore presented, in which the insights can be applied to Higher Education beyond the UK.
AB - With respect to supporting student well-being and success, the current research developed a peer support scheme, built on the principles of Social Identity Theory (SIT). This was targeted towards first year undergraduate psychology students, in which measures of collective identity, sense of belonging, group efficacy, happiness and resilience were obtained, along with attendance and academic attainment. Following one academic year of being part of our peer support scheme, participants (N = 90) completed a questionnaire and consented to their attendance and attainment data to be used. It was found that students’ collective identity was positively related to their sense of belonging, group efficacy beliefs and happiness. Further, the sense of belonging was a reliable predictor of happiness, but not attendance or academic attainment. Therefore, there is some evidence to suggest that an SIT-driven peer support scheme can support students’ psychosocial well-being, although more is needed to ascertain whether this could be developed further to observe any course-related outcomes. Theoretical contributions to SIT are therefore presented, in which the insights can be applied to Higher Education beyond the UK.
KW - Sense of belonging
KW - Social identity
KW - Peer support
KW - Well-being
KW - Psychology
KW - Higher education
UR - https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/14682/
U2 - 10.1080/0309877X.2020.1831450
DO - 10.1080/0309877X.2020.1831450
M3 - Article
SN - 0309-877X
VL - 45
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Journal of Further and Higher Education
JF - Journal of Further and Higher Education
IS - 7
ER -