The Effects of Multiple Identities on Psychological Well-Being

2008/10/02 by Amara T. Brook, Julie A. García, Julie Garcia +1 · 3 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction #Social and Intergroup Psychology

paper · doi:10.1177/0146167208324629

openalex publication_date 2008/10/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The authors propose that the effects of multiple identities on psychological well-being depend on the number of identities, importance of those identities, and relationship between them. Specifically, this model predicts that when identities are highly important, having many versus few identities leads to greater psychological well-being if the identities are in harmony with each other-providing resources and expecting similar behaviors-but leads to lower psychological well-being if the identities conflict with each other-depleting resources and expecting incompatible behaviors. However, when identities are less important, neither the number of identities nor identity harmony should affect well-being. The authors further propose that emotions corresponding to self-perceptions of actual/ought self-discrepancies mediate these effects. Results supported this model. The authors discuss implications of this model for well-being in the context of the increasing social complexity of modern life.

Citations

• A Theory of Role Strain
• Multiple Roles and Role Strain: Some Notes on Human Energy, Time and Commitment
• Adding elder care to women's multiple roles: A critical review of the caregiver stress and multiple roles literatures
• A Global Measure of Perceived Stress
• Identity Processes and Social Stress
• Toward a Theory of Role Accumulation
• Work-Family Conflict, Work- and Family-Role Salience, and Women's Well-Being
• Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect.
• Negotiating Biculturalism
• Gender, Multiple Roles, Role Meaning, and Mental Health

Cited by

• Responses to Conflicts Between Personal Identity and Role Identity: Insights into the Identity Management Strategies of Entrepreneurs
• Three Faces of Identity
• Binational Identities and Experiences of Discrimination in the Context of Migration: The Role of Transnational Family Ties and Practices

Related

• Identity Processes and Social Stress
• The how and the when of the social cure: A conceptual model of group‐ and individual‐level mechanisms linking social identity to health and well‐being
• Concealable Stigmatized Identities and Psychological Well‐Being
• The Social Self: On Being the Same and Different at the Same Time
• The Interplay of Personal and Social Identity