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During times of profound social change, people's psychological well-being is related to their assessment of their path from the past to the future [temporal relative deprivation (RD)]. A first survey conducted in Mongolia ( n = 480) and data from a representative population survey conducted in South Africa ( n = 2,711) are used to explore whether the status of one's group during a time of dramatic social change moderates the relationship between temporal RD and well-being. Black South Africans and Mongolians (low-status group members) reported the highest well-being if they reported RD levels would decrease over time (even higher than group members who reported low but steady levels of RD). However, White South Africans (high-status group members) reported the lowest levels of well-being if they reported high and steady levels of RD (even in comparison with group members who reported that RD levels would increase over time). The implications of these different patterns and directions for future research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dramatic social change involves profound transformations that impact an entire group moving forward. Such is the reality for race relations in South Africa. Research has found that most people report a trajectory of group-based relative deprivation that appears to parallel actual historical events. However, a significant subset of respondents reported a trajectory in which the perceived status of their group remained stable despite dramatic social change. The first goal of our research was to assess whether both the historically 'assumed' and 'stable' group trajectories arise consistently among South Africans (N = 2,989). The second and more important goal was to identify the factors that might account for this dichotomy in perceived trajectory building on both traditional and recent advances in relative deprivation theory as well as on social identity theory. We hypothesized that higher levels of in-group identification would be associated with the historically assumed group trajectory. Results supported this hypothesis. The third goal was to link the different group trajectories with important psychological outcomes such as personal well-being, group self-esteem, and interracial attitudes., (© 2012 The British Psychological Society.)