I am delighted that my first paper from my PhD research has been accepted for publication in Psychiatry Research. I must extend thanks to my colleagues and co-authors Fabio Sani and Juliet Wakefield, for their expertise, help and support.

Our paper entitled ‘Identification with Social Groups is Associated with Mental Health in Adolescents: Evidence from a Scottish Community Sample’, investigates whether there is a link between mental health symptoms and identification with a variety of groups (family, school and friends) in an adolescent sample.

Higher identification with each group predicted better mental health. There was also an additive effect of group identification, with the odds of reporting psychiatric disturbance decreasing for every additional group with which participants identified strongly. These effects held even when age, gender, and group contact were controlled for.

Our findings have implications for the prevention and treatment of mental problems, offering an alternative to traditional ways of viewing mental illness in adolescence and beyond.

To view the paper in full, please see:

Miller, K., Wakefield, J. R. H, & Sani, F. (2015). Identification with Social Groups is Associated with Mental Health in Adolescents: Evidence from a Scottish Community Sample. Psychiatry Research, 228, 340-346. DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.05.088.