The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies

Matthew J. EASTERBROOK; Lusine GRIGORYAN; Peter B. SMITH; Yasin KOC; Vivian Miu Chi LUN; Dona PAPASTYLIANOU; Claudio TORRES; Maria EFREMOVA; Bushra HASSAN; Ammar ABBAS; Heyla AL-SELIM; Joel ANDERSON; Susan E. CROSS; Gisela Isabel DELFINO; Vladimer GAMSAKHURDIA; Alin GAVRELIUC; Dana GAVRELIUC; Pelin GUL; Ceren GUNSOY; Anna HAKOBJANYAN; Siugmin LAY; Olga LOPUKHOVA; Ping HU; Diane SUNAR; Maria Luisa MENDES TEXEIRA; Doriana TRIPODI; Paola Eunice Diaz RIVERA; Masaki YUKI; Natsuki OGUSU; Catherine T. KWANTES; Rolando DIAZ-LOVING; Lorena PEREZ-FLORIANO; Trawin CHALEERAKTRAKOON; Phatthanakit CHOBTHAMKIT

doi:10.1177/19485506241230847

The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies

Matthew J. EASTERBROOK^*
, Lusine GRIGORYAN
, Peter B. SMITH
, Yasin KOC
, Vivian Miu Chi LUN
, Dona PAPASTYLIANOU
, Claudio TORRES
, Maria EFREMOVA
, Bushra HASSAN
, Ammar ABBAS
, Heyla AL-SELIM
, Joel ANDERSON
, Susan E. CROSS
, Gisela Isabel DELFINO
, Vladimer GAMSAKHURDIA
, Alin GAVRELIUC
, Dana GAVRELIUC
, Pelin GUL
, Ceren GUNSOY
, Anna HAKOBJANYAN

Siugmin LAY, Olga LOPUKHOVA, Ping HU, Diane SUNAR, Maria Luisa MENDES TEXEIRA, Doriana TRIPODI, Paola Eunice Diaz RIVERA, Masaki YUKI, Natsuki OGUSU, Catherine T. KWANTES, Rolando DIAZ-LOVING, Lorena PEREZ-FLORIANO, Trawin CHALEERAKTRAKOON, Phatthanakit CHOBTHAMKIT

^*Corresponding author for this work

Lingnan University

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate whether the social cure properties of groups vary across cultures, testing hypotheses that the associations between multiple group memberships (MGM) and depressive symptoms will (a) be mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures, and (b) vary systematically with sample-level relational mobility. Analyses of data from a survey (N = 5,174) conducted within k = 29 samples show that MGM is negatively associated with depressive symptoms, an association fully mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures. In line with our theorizing, in samples with higher levels of relational mobility constraints, the association between MGM and depressive symptoms is weaker, the associations between MGM and social support and between MGM and normative pressures are stronger, and the association between social support and depressive symptoms weaker. The indirect link between MGM and depressive symptoms via social support is significant at both low and high levels of relational mobility constraints.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	780-791
Number of pages	12
Journal	Social Psychological and Personality Science
Volume	16
Issue number	7
Early online date	22 Feb 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506241230847
Publication status	Published - Sept 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The work of Olga Lopukhova was supported by the Kazan Federal University Strategic Academic Leadership Program (PRIORITY-2030). Lusine Grigoryan’s work on this project was supported by DFG individual grant #464524346. Maria Efremova’s work on this project was supported within the framework of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University).

Keywords

group processes
culture and self
depression
social support

Access to Document

10.1177/19485506241230847Licence: CC BY

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19485506241230847

Cite this

EASTERBROOK, M. J., GRIGORYAN, L., SMITH, P. B., KOC, Y., LUN, V. M. C., PAPASTYLIANOU, D., TORRES, C., EFREMOVA, M., HASSAN, B., ABBAS, A., AL-SELIM, H., ANDERSON, J., CROSS, S. E., DELFINO, G. I., GAMSAKHURDIA, V., GAVRELIUC, A., GAVRELIUC, D., GUL, P., GUNSOY, C., ... CHOBTHAMKIT, P. (2025). The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 16(7), 780-791. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506241230847

@article{6d618e44381944a79267cc333ee540f8,

title = "The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies",

abstract = "We investigate whether the social cure properties of groups vary across cultures, testing hypotheses that the associations between multiple group memberships (MGM) and depressive symptoms will (a) be mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures, and (b) vary systematically with sample-level relational mobility. Analyses of data from a survey (N = 5,174) conducted within k = 29 samples show that MGM is negatively associated with depressive symptoms, an association fully mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures. In line with our theorizing, in samples with higher levels of relational mobility constraints, the association between MGM and depressive symptoms is weaker, the associations between MGM and social support and between MGM and normative pressures are stronger, and the association between social support and depressive symptoms weaker. The indirect link between MGM and depressive symptoms via social support is significant at both low and high levels of relational mobility constraints.",

keywords = "group processes, culture and self, depression, social support",

author = "EASTERBROOK, \{Matthew J.\} and Lusine GRIGORYAN and SMITH, \{Peter B.\} and Yasin KOC and LUN, \{Vivian Miu Chi\} and Dona PAPASTYLIANOU and Claudio TORRES and Maria EFREMOVA and Bushra HASSAN and Ammar ABBAS and Heyla AL-SELIM and Joel ANDERSON and CROSS, \{Susan E.\} and DELFINO, \{Gisela Isabel\} and Vladimer GAMSAKHURDIA and Alin GAVRELIUC and Dana GAVRELIUC and Pelin GUL and Ceren GUNSOY and Anna HAKOBJANYAN and Siugmin LAY and Olga LOPUKHOVA and Ping HU and Diane SUNAR and \{MENDES TEXEIRA\}, \{Maria Luisa\} and Doriana TRIPODI and RIVERA, \{Paola Eunice Diaz\} and Masaki YUKI and Natsuki OGUSU and KWANTES, \{Catherine T.\} and Rolando DIAZ-LOVING and Lorena PEREZ-FLORIANO and Trawin CHALEERAKTRAKOON and Phatthanakit CHOBTHAMKIT",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2024.",

year = "2025",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1177/19485506241230847",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

pages = "780--791",

journal = "Social Psychological and Personality Science",

issn = "1948-5506",

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EASTERBROOK, MJ, GRIGORYAN, L, SMITH, PB, KOC, Y, LUN, VMC, PAPASTYLIANOU, D, TORRES, C, EFREMOVA, M, HASSAN, B, ABBAS, A, AL-SELIM, H, ANDERSON, J, CROSS, SE, DELFINO, GI, GAMSAKHURDIA, V, GAVRELIUC, A, GAVRELIUC, D, GUL, P, GUNSOY, C, HAKOBJANYAN, A, LAY, S, LOPUKHOVA, O, HU, P, SUNAR, D, MENDES TEXEIRA, ML, TRIPODI, D, RIVERA, PED, YUKI, M, OGUSU, N, KWANTES, CT, DIAZ-LOVING, R, PEREZ-FLORIANO, L, CHALEERAKTRAKOON, T & CHOBTHAMKIT, P 2025, 'The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies', Social Psychological and Personality Science, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 780-791. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506241230847

The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies. / EASTERBROOK, Matthew J.; GRIGORYAN, Lusine; SMITH, Peter B. et al.
In: Social Psychological and Personality Science, Vol. 16, No. 7, 09.2025, p. 780-791.

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies

AU - EASTERBROOK, Matthew J.

AU - GRIGORYAN, Lusine

AU - SMITH, Peter B.

AU - KOC, Yasin

AU - LUN, Vivian Miu Chi

AU - PAPASTYLIANOU, Dona

AU - TORRES, Claudio

AU - EFREMOVA, Maria

AU - HASSAN, Bushra

AU - ABBAS, Ammar

AU - AL-SELIM, Heyla

AU - ANDERSON, Joel

AU - CROSS, Susan E.

AU - DELFINO, Gisela Isabel

AU - GAMSAKHURDIA, Vladimer

AU - GAVRELIUC, Alin

AU - GAVRELIUC, Dana

AU - GUL, Pelin

AU - GUNSOY, Ceren

AU - HAKOBJANYAN, Anna

AU - LAY, Siugmin

AU - LOPUKHOVA, Olga

AU - HU, Ping

AU - SUNAR, Diane

AU - MENDES TEXEIRA, Maria Luisa

AU - TRIPODI, Doriana

AU - RIVERA, Paola Eunice Diaz

AU - YUKI, Masaki

AU - OGUSU, Natsuki

AU - KWANTES, Catherine T.

AU - DIAZ-LOVING, Rolando

AU - PEREZ-FLORIANO, Lorena

AU - CHALEERAKTRAKOON, Trawin

AU - CHOBTHAMKIT, Phatthanakit

PY - 2025/9

Y1 - 2025/9

N2 - We investigate whether the social cure properties of groups vary across cultures, testing hypotheses that the associations between multiple group memberships (MGM) and depressive symptoms will (a) be mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures, and (b) vary systematically with sample-level relational mobility. Analyses of data from a survey (N = 5,174) conducted within k = 29 samples show that MGM is negatively associated with depressive symptoms, an association fully mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures. In line with our theorizing, in samples with higher levels of relational mobility constraints, the association between MGM and depressive symptoms is weaker, the associations between MGM and social support and between MGM and normative pressures are stronger, and the association between social support and depressive symptoms weaker. The indirect link between MGM and depressive symptoms via social support is significant at both low and high levels of relational mobility constraints.

AB - We investigate whether the social cure properties of groups vary across cultures, testing hypotheses that the associations between multiple group memberships (MGM) and depressive symptoms will (a) be mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures, and (b) vary systematically with sample-level relational mobility. Analyses of data from a survey (N = 5,174) conducted within k = 29 samples show that MGM is negatively associated with depressive symptoms, an association fully mediated by social support and uncomfortable normative pressures. In line with our theorizing, in samples with higher levels of relational mobility constraints, the association between MGM and depressive symptoms is weaker, the associations between MGM and social support and between MGM and normative pressures are stronger, and the association between social support and depressive symptoms weaker. The indirect link between MGM and depressive symptoms via social support is significant at both low and high levels of relational mobility constraints.

KW - group processes

KW - culture and self

KW - depression

KW - social support

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85186443692

U2 - 10.1177/19485506241230847

DO - 10.1177/19485506241230847

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

SN - 1948-5506

VL - 16

SP - 780

EP - 791

JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science

JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science

IS - 7

ER -

The Social Cure Properties of Groups Across Cultures: Groups Provide More Support but Have Stronger Norms and Are Less Curative in Relationally Immobile Societies

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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