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After apparently beneficial life changes, people are expected to experience elevated well-being. However, research suggests that some individuals adapt quickly to change, so their well-being increases little in the long-term. We propose this phenomenon is explained by the integration of the changes into identity, in interaction with perceived valence of the changes. We hypothesized that higher integration would be associated with smaller increases in well-being for changes perceived as positive. For changes perceived as negative, higher integration would be associated with larger increases in well-being. Lesbians and gay men (N= 80) completed a questionnaire on well-being, perceived valence of coming out and its integration into identity. Moderated regressions supported the hypotheses, revealing the importance of considering identity integration and perceived valence in research on adaptation to changes. The results question the merits of interventions promoting identity integration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we argue that the target of comparison should be taken into consideration when evaluating the associated outcomes of negative comparisons in the context of dramatic social change. To achieve this general goal, we considered five distinct targets of comparison: social (my group versus another group), temporal (my group across time), and temporal inter-group (my group versus another group across time). We hypothesised that in times of constant social change, two points of anchors (social and temporal) are simultaneously needed to evaluate one's position. A total of 236 high school and university students from Mongolia participated in the study. We used hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses. As predicted, we found that temporal inter-group comparisons are better predictor of collective esteem than their social and temporal counterparts. Moreover, the link from past and future temporal inter-group comparisons to collective esteem was negative as hypothesized. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]