Exploring links between social identity, emotion regulation and loneliness in those with and without a history of mental illness

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between key constructs drawn from both the emotion regulation and social identity perspectives, with a view to understand loneliness in adults with and without a history of mental illness. Participants (N = 875) with a mental illness history (MH Hx, n = 217; Mage = 45 years, 59% female) and without a mental illness history (No MH Hx, n = 658; Mage = 47 years, 48% female) completed a survey comprising measures of group membership and connectedness, emotion regulation strategies, and loneliness. The MH Hx group reported higher internal affect worsening strategy use and loneliness than those no MH Hx. Hierarchical regressions indicated that the unique contributions of emotion regulation strategies and social identity factors to loneliness were equivalent between the groups. Together, social identity and emotion regulation explained 37% of the variance in loneliness in the No MH Hx subsample, and 35% in the MH Hx subsample. These findings suggest that both emotion regulation and social identity had significant unique contributions to the reported loneliness of people when controlling for demographics and each other in those with and without a history of mental illness.