Publication type
Journal Article
Authors
Publication date
October 1, 2026
Summary:
Loneliness is a significant determinant of mental and physical health which has many root causes at local community level. Building on the Social Identity Approach to Health we test a longitudinal version of McNamara et al.'s (2021) neighbourhood identity model of wellbeing, which links local community identification to wellbeing via reduced loneliness. Study 1 was a two-wave survey of residents in mid-Nottinghamshire, UK (T1 N = 879; T2 N = 216). Mediation analyses showed that, over a one-year period, changes in community identification predicted increases in wellbeing via increases in perceived support and reductions in loneliness while controlling for a range of demographic factors. In Study 2, a secondary analysis of a large population-based UK study, i.e. Understanding Society (UKHLS; Waves 9 and 12; n = 38,056) showed that over a three-year period, increases in identification predicted improvements in GHQ-12 mental health and self-rated general health, again via increases in perceived support and reductions in loneliness. Across studies, the effect of neighbourhood identification on wellbeing occurred primarily through loneliness reduction. We discuss implications for reducing health inequalities through local community identity-building and social infrastructure, and outline priorities for policy and future research.
Published in
Social Science & Medicine
Volume
Volume: 406:119543
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119543
ISSN
02779536
Subjects
Notes
© 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Open Access
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-nd/4.0/ ).
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