Psychology Today blog post

The blog post "Is the “Social Cure” a Cultural Universal?" is now out on Psychology Today. It reflects on Grigoryan and Easterbrook’s 2024 study into 29 societies which contributes to a growing body of research on the generalisability of the ‘social cure’ to non-Western societies. We found that while the association between belonging to multiple social groups and social support was stronger in societies with a higher level of relational mobility constraints, the association between multiple group membership and depressive symptoms was weaker, challenging the typical ‘more the merrier’ social cure effect. In East Asian countries where cultural norms around social groups, and the reciprocity of the social support that a person receives from these connections, are more rigid, the relationship between social group membership and emotional and physical wellbeing is more complicated than first thought, with these group memberships potentially feeling more pressurised. 

Thank you to Psychology Today for inviting us to share our research, which can be read here. The original study can be read on the publisher's website.