The Importance of Group Cohesion in Inpatient Treatment of Combat-Related PTSD

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most widespread mental illness resulting from exposure to combat, necessitating an increase in the provision of group therapy. This pilot study examined the efficacy of, and treatment outcome predictors associated with, group inpatient treatment of combat-related PTSD. Participants included 38 active duty military personnel deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), diagnosed with PTSD, and consecutive admissions to an inpatient PTSD treatment facility. A paired samples t-test revealed significant change in symptom severity and global functioning between pre- and post-treatment. Multiple regression analyses supported the predictive utility of baseline symptomatology and group cohesion (> 50% of the variance in treatment outcome), highlighting the importance of group cohesion in the efficacy of group treatment for combat-related PTSD.     

Expanding the Definition of Privilege: The Concept of Social Privilege

Examinations of privilege have historically focused on gender and race. By placing privilege within the context of oppression, the authors offer an expanded view of the domains of privilege that include sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, differing degrees of ableness, and religious affiliation. Los exámenes del privilegio se han enfocado históricamente en el género y la raza. Colocando el privilegio dentro del contexto de la opresión, los autores ofrecen una vista ensanchada de los dominios del privilegio que incluye la orientación sexual, la posición socioeconómica, la edad, difiriendo los grados de habilidad, y de la afiliación religiosa.     

The Social and Personal Identities Scale: A Measure of the Differential Importance Ascribed to Social and Personal Self-Categorizations

A new measure sensitive to differences in the importance that people ascribe to their social (group) and personal identities is described. The Social and Personal Identities (SIPI) scale distinguishes between the interpersonal level of self which differentiates the individual as unique from others, and the social identity level of self whereby the individual is identified by his or her group memberships. In contrast to perspectives that emphasize the context-dependence of self-conception, our measure was designed to capture individual differences in participants' readiness to categorize themselves using group and personal self-categories as measured by the degree of importance or centrality assigned to each. Factor and reliability analyses support the scale's stability as a two-factor structure with high internal consistency, and these factors are modestly correlated. Results from six studies substantiate the scale's criterion and construct validity.     

Stories of Relative Privilege: Power and Social Change in Feminist Community Psychology

Stories about community work in New Zealand and Scotland are presented to describe and reflect on issues central to feminist community psychology. Organizing a lesbian festival, Ingrid Huygens describes feminist processes used to equalize resources across Maori (indigenous) and Pakeha (white) groups. Heather Hamerton presents her experiences as a researcher using collective memory work to reflect on adolescent experiences related to gender, ethnicity, and class. Sharon Cahill chronicles dilemmas and insights from focus groups about anger with women living in public housing in Scotland. Each story chronicles experiences related to oppression and privilege, and describes the author's emotions and reflections. Individually and collectively, the stories illustrate the potential offered by narrative methods and participatory processes for challenging inequalities and encouraging social justice.     

Race,Power, and Privilege

This article identifies some of the developing context of interfaith relations within the ecumenical movement in the United Kingdom, where there has been a seismic shift in the national political debate that is now dominated by the decision, following a referendum, to leave the European Union. It argues that interfaith relations has lost much of its radical focus upon justice and become focused upon initiatives of social cohesion, mutual understanding, and celebration of difference, rather than addressing some of the deeper issues of justice and racism and the consequences of Britain’s colonial history, much of which has re‐emerged as a result of Brexit. This is of critical importance given the rise in hate crime, particularly anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia.     

The Internalisation of Group Identities in Childhood

This paper provides an account of key findings from a decade-long programme of research on children’s internalisation of social group identities. Our starting point is to note a pervasive failure of previous work to differentiate between categorisation of the self in group terms and subjective identification with a social group. Thus, previous research had sought to cast light on identification with groups but, owing to methodological weaknesses, typically examined only categorisation of the self in group terms. Following a review of relevant literature, we report the findings of our own research which has adapted methods drawn from cognitive social psychology. We conclude that even by the age of 5 years children are capable of subjectively identifying with collectivities. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Group Membership,Status, and Social Power Preference1

The power literature supports the notion that power‐base preferences can serve as a means for gaining advantage over others, thereby satisfying the personal self. Here, we inquired whether the use of power bases also serves as a means for gaining in‐group advantage, thereby satisfying the social self. A 2 × 3 × 2 design, including group membership (in‐group/out‐group), influencing agent's status (low, same, high), and gender as independent variables was employed. After reading scenarios describing work‐situation conflicts that differed by the relative status of the influencing agent and group membership of the target person, students and workers completed the Interpersonal Power Inventory for assessing power usage. In general, participants attributed greater use of harsh bases toward the out‐group. Status effects were obtained for in‐group targets and were less clear for out‐group targets. The discussion addresses theoretical implications for both the power interaction model and social identity theory, as well as practical ones for intergroup relations in organizations.     

Attitudes Toward Women's Rights: Relationships with Social Dominance Orientation and Political Group Identities

This research assessed the extent to whichattitudes toward women's rights are predicted by socialdominance orientation (SDO) and the political groupidentities socialist and capitalist. Respondents were 181 Australian undergraduates (54 males, 127females), most of whom were of European descent. Theresults of multiple regression analyses suggested thatSDO was the most consistent predictor of negative attitudes, although the extent to which itunderpins attitudes toward women's rights was found tovary for men and women: for men it was the onlysignificant predictor. Support was also found for theideological asymmetry hypothesis. The results are discussedwith reference to social dominance theory.     

The Appropriation of Difference: State and the Construction of Ethnic Identities in Nigeria

With an analysis of the construction of ethno-political identities in Nigeria, in this article I show that ethnic identities in postcolonial, multicultural societies are often constructed by the state and the elites that control it and use state power for accumulation and to maintain distributional inequities. With its roots in the character of colonial rule, this construction has been an important strategy of Nigeria's elites and the state in political struggles, and competition over power, economic resources, and prestige. In Nigeria's case, state managers, under pressure from domestic groups, international financial institutions, and governments, engage in contradictory processes of trying to promote a "national" identity while also promoting ethnic/regional identities, which subvert the former. In doing this they borrow freely from the values and beliefs held by particular groups about themselves and others, which as cultural meanings, help mobilize action. In this sense, ethnic identity in Nigeria does not merely reflect the material base but rather helps shape that base and is internationalized. Perspectives, which only stress the primordiality of ethnic identity and struggles or see ethnicity as merely a reflection of class struggles or merely the result of the nature of colonial oppression, are seen to be inadequate. In this article I show that a reduction of destructive ethnicity in Nigeria requires a more equitable redistribution of resources and more inclusive cultural, including educational policies and practices that allow for fair and equitable representation of and respect for various cultural traditions and other forms of difference in the country.     

The Multidimensional Nature of Social Cohesion: Psychological Sense of Community, Attraction, and Neighboring

Items from the Neighborhood Cohesion Instrument were completed by 1,732 individuals from a random sample of households in 20 rural communities across Canada during the summer of 2001. Confirmatory factor analysis of the NCI items based on polychoric correlations and weighted least squares estimation found three underlying latent variables. Although items were related to the three latent variables in a somewhat different manner than they were in Buckner's original study, the same three latent variables were evident, providing convincing evidence that social cohesion has at least three subscales: psychological sense of community, neighboring, and attraction. Correlations between subscales were relatively high (between .67 and .87). Intraclass correlation coefficients for the three scales were .115, .127, and .112. In addition, the community means differed on different subscales in a manner that related to recognized characteristics of the communities. Thus the subscales are appropriate measures for both individuals and communities and can be recommended for further research on social cohesion.     

Definition and Power: Toward Authority without Privilege

Feminists have urged women to take semantic authority. I explain what such authority is, how it depends upon community recognition, and how it differs from privilege and from authority as usually conceived under patriarchy. Understanding its nature and limits is an important part of attaining it. Understanding the role of community explains why separatism is the logical conclusion of this project and why separatism is valuable even to those who do not separate.     

Alliance and Group Cohesion in Relationship Education

Relationship education programs have been shown as an effective way to increase relationship functioning. There is less known about how process factors, such as alliance with the leader or group dynamics, affect outcomes in these interventions. We examined group cohesion and alliance with the leader in a relationship education program tailored for individuals. Specifically, we examined whether participants' ratings (n = 126) of the group cohesion and alliance with the leader were associated with changes in relationship adjustment, relationship confidence, and communication quality from pre‐ to postintervention. The results demonstrated that participants' perceptions of the cohesion among the members in their relationship education group, but not the leader–participant alliance, made a significant contribution to the changes in participants' relationship functioning. These results suggest that the group dynamics among the members in the group are important ingredients in relationship education. Implications for relationship programs are provided.     

The Nature and Consequences of Group Cohesion in a Military Sample

The 1st objective of this study was to explore the dimensionality of the work-adapted version of the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ; Carron, Widmeyer, &; Brawley, 1985 Carron, A. V., Widmeyer, W. N. and Brawley, L. R. 1985. The development of an instrument to assess cohesion in sport teams: The Group Environment Questionnaire.. Journal of Sport Psychology, 7: 244–266. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in a military setting. The 2nd was to investigate how group cohesion relates to job performance, job satisfaction, and psychological distress. To this end, 447 Canadian military employees who worked in units completed the GEQ, along with measures of job performance, job satisfaction, and psychological distress. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the hypothesized 4-factor model of the GEQ provided a better fit to the data than did alternative models. A path analysis indicated that perceptions of task-related cohesion were predictive of job satisfaction, whereas dimensions of cohesion reflecting attraction to the group were inversely associated with psychological distress. The relevance of social identity with respect to psychological dimensions and correlates of group cohesion is discussed.     

Making a Difference: The Social Ecology of Social Transformation

A multidisciplinary and multilevel framework for social transformation is proposed, encompassing four foundational goals: capacity-building, group empowerment, relational community-building, and culture-challenge. Intervention approaches related to each goal are presented at the setting, geographic community, and societal levels. Four exemplars of social transformation work are then discussed: the Accelerated Schools Project, Meyerhoff Program, ManKind Project, and women's movement. These examples illustrate the synergistic relationship among the four transformational goals, within and across levels of analysis, which is at the heart of the social transformation process. The paper concludes with three challenges to guide our efforts as we enter the new century: (1) to move social transformation to the center of our consciousness as a field; (2) to articulate jointly with allied disciplines, organizations, and citizen groups an encompassing, multidisciplinary, and multilevel framework for social transformation; and (3) to do the above with heart, soul, and humility.     

The Relationship Between Leadership Behaviors and Group Cohesion in Team Sports

The relationship between leadership behaviors and team cohesion among baseball and softball players at two school levels was analyzed in relation to predictions based on Chelladurai and Carron's (1978) Multidimensional Model of Leadership (MML). Athletes (n = 307) completed the perceived and preferred versions of the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). Athletes' coaches (n = 23) completed the self-perceived version of the LSS. Task and social cohesion were assessed in relation to the scales of the three individual versions of the LSS and in relation to two types of discrepancy scores: value and perceptual. Although the concept of discrepancy is prominent in MML theory, the perceptual discrepancy score represents an innovation. Results indicated that, in general, team cohesion was most strongly related to the perceived LSS version and the perceptual discrepancy scores.     

Unity and Difference: A Critical Appraisal of Polarizing Gender Identities

In The Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel draws out the interdependency of unity and difference. In order to have a unity, there must be differences that compose it, as a unity unifies different elements. At the same time, in unifying these elements, they must not cease to be different from one another, as that would reduce the unity to a simple singularity. In this paper, I take up this interdependency of unity and difference, applying it to gender identities. I follow the psychoanalytically oriented exchange between Judith Butler and Adam Phillips, in which they agree that gender identities are a farce, superimposed upon ungendered subjects, but disagree about the extent to which this artificial binary should be disassembled. Picking up their conversation at this point, I investigate how binary systems of identity can be both injurious and useful. Should they be cast off or does it make sense to keep them? Following this vein of thought, I end with a discussion of good and bad hate, arguing that there is an inescapable need for psychologically productive hate neutralized through empathy.     

The Influence of Multiple Group Identities on Moral Foundations

Moral foundations theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding the universal and societal aspects of morality. The focus thus far has been on understanding the influence of group categories on moral foundations by controlling for relevant factors and then examining the unique contribution of a single factor. Although this type of analysis was critical to demonstrate the efficacy of the Moral Foundations Theory and Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ), the current study examines moral responses from the intersection of culture, ethnic identity and gender group membership in the United States and India. Significant results suggest that moral foundations are better understood through a multiple group identity perspective and that the MFQ is equipped to capture differences in moral foundations within subgroups.