Families as ingroups that provide social resources: Implications for well-being

In six studies, we examined how properties of families as ingroups (i.e., group value, entitativity, and identification) enhance well-being, leveraging the Model of Ingroups as Social Resources (MISR). In correlational studies involving college students (Study 1) and older adults (Study 2), people experienced greater well-being when they reported that their families were greater in group value, entitativity, and identification. Studies 3–5 manipulated each of these three family ingroup properties, respectively, and we observed causal evidence that each one improves well-being. Study 6 replicated Study 3, and it ruled out a mood-based alternative account. These studies contribute to our understanding of how families affect people’s mental and physical health, and they provide an initial empirical test of these three ingroup constructs concurrently and in a manipulated fashion.