AUTHOR=Walsh R. S. , Muldoon Orla T. , Fortune Donal G. , Gallagher Stephen 

TITLE=A Longitudinal Study of Relationships between Identity Continuity and Anxiety Following Brain Injury

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00648

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00648

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> Anxiety is of particular importance following acquired brain injury (ABI), because anxiety has been identified as a significant predictor of functional outcomes. Continuity of self has been linked to post ABI adjustment and research has linked self-discrepancy to anxiety. This longitudinal study investigates the impact of affiliative and ‘self as doer’ self-categorisations anxiety.</p><p><bold>Materials and Methods:</bold> Data was collected at two time points. Fifty-three adult ABI survivors participating in post-acute community neuro-rehabilitation participated at time one and 32 of these participated at time two. Participants completed a 28-item identity questionnaire based on <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">Leach et al.’s (2008)</xref> multicomponent model of ingroup identification which measured the strength of affiliative and self as doer identities. Anxiety was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Analysis indicates a significant mediated relationship between affiliative identification and anxiety via self as doer identification. Contrary to initial prediction, this relationship was significant for those with consistency in affiliative self-categorisation and inconsistency in ‘self as doer’ self-categorisation.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> These findings can be interpreted as evidencing the importance of identity continuity and multiplicity following ABI and contribute to the understanding of these through the use of a social identity approach.</p>