The Role of Social Identity and Group Belonging in Preventing Mental Health Problems: A Cross-Cultural Study

Abstract

This study aimed to explain how social identity and group belonging contribute to the prevention of mental health problems among adults from diverse cultural and ethnolinguistic backgrounds living in Tehran. A qualitative design based on reflexive thematic analysis was employed. Thirty participants aged 20–49 years were recruited through purposive maximum-variation sampling from six self-identified cultural and ethnolinguistic backgrounds: Persian-speaking, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Lur, Arab, and Afghan migrant communities. Data were collected exclusively through individual semi-structured interviews. Sampling and interviewing continued until theoretical and meaning saturation was achieved. Initial saturation occurred after the twenty-seventh interview, and three additional interviews were conducted to confirm the stability and comprehensiveness of the emerging categories. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using NVivo 14 following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis procedure. Trustworthiness was enhanced through participant validation, peer review of coding, reflexive memo writing, maximum-variation sampling, and continuous cross-cultural comparison. Four main categories were identified: “social identity as a source of meaning, self-continuity, and personal worth,” “group belonging as a network of support and emotional regulation,” “collective participation and agency as pathways to resilience and help-seeking,” and “the dual boundaries of belonging: exclusion, normative pressure, and the reconstruction of multiple identities.” Across cultural backgrounds, being accepted, receiving reliable support, and performing a meaningful group role were perceived as protective against loneliness, anxiety, depressive mood, and helplessness. However, discrimination, stigmatization, restrictive group norms, and conflicts among familial, ethnic, occupational, and urban identities could weaken or reverse the protective effects of belonging. Positive social identity may protect mental health by providing collective meaning, perceived support, shared self-esteem, efficacy, emotional validation, and culturally acceptable routes to help-seeking. Nevertheless, group membership alone is insufficient. Relational quality, inclusion, personal choice, recognition of individual differences, and compatibility among multiple identities determine whether belonging functions as a “social cure” or becomes a source of psychological strain. Mental health promotion and prevention programs should therefore move beyond increasing social contact and develop safe, inclusive, voluntary, culturally responsive, and psychologically meaningful group environments.