Greater loss of face and family honor values are associated with greater positive expectancies and substance abuse among Middle Eastern/Northern African U.S. college students

Perceived reputation moderates the link between honor concerns and depressive symptoms

Prior research has shown that U.S. cultures of honor have higher rates of depression and suicide. While links between honor endorsement and suicide have been established in the literature, a direct test of the primary mechanism underlying this association (reputation damage leading to depression) has not yet been tested. The current study sought to address whether shifts in perceived reputation might be associated with higher levels of depression for honor endorsing individuals. An online sample of 305 participants were tracked across two time points, assessing perceived individual reputation and perceived family reputation, as well as depressive symptoms. Analyses revealed that higher levels of honor concern at Time 1 were linked with higher levels of depressive symptoms at Time 2, but only for those with low perceived reputation - these relationships held while controlling for the stability in reputation and depression across time points, as well as controlling for participants' gender. Findings provide the first empirical evidence that reputation damage may contribute to detriments in mental health in honor endorsers.

The role of honour in interpersonal, intrapersonal and intergroup processes

In this article, we review research in psychology and other related social science fields that has adopted an honor framework to examine intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup processes taking a culture-comparative or individual differences approach. In the sections below, we will first review research on the role of honor in interpersonal processes focusing primarily on interpersonal aggression including in close relationships, non-aggressive ways of responding to threats (e.g., forgiveness), and reciprocity. Next, we move onto reviewing research on the role of honor in intrapersonal processes, specifically in the domains of emotional responses to honor-threatening situations, mental, and physical health. Finally, we review research emerging from social and political psychology and political science that have utilized the honor framework to understand and explain group processes and intergroup relations at different level of analyses (e.g., social groups, nations). Given the limited space, our goal was to emphasize major and emerging areas of research on honor and provide food for thought for future research.