A cross-cultural investigation of identity statuses in Middle Eastern countries

Abstract

The psychosocial theory of Erikson suggests that identity formation requires resolving a series of conflicts, and therefore ego strengths are related to the success or failure of resolving each conflict. Based on this theory, Marcia (1966) established an identity status paradigm (ISP), which consisted of four statuses: achievement, moratorium, foreclosure and diffusion. Exploration (the active consideration of alternatives) and commitment (the attainment of a clear sense of self-definition) within the occupational, ideological, political, or sex role domains are the two developmental tasks, by which the ISP describes each identity. Although this ISP ignored the role of context, more recent evidence seems to indicate that identity formation is a socially embedded process, and therefore it may be affected by culture. Here, we report a cross-cultural comparison between Egyptian and Kuwaiti undergraduate university students (N = 433) using an Arabic version of the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Statuses-2 (EOMES-2). All males were more foreclosed than females, but there was no gender effect on the remaining three statuses. More importantly, the by-participant and by-item analyses consistently showed that Egyptians were more achieved and less foreclosed and diffused than Kuwaitis. However, identity moratorium was similar between these two nations. These results suggest that identity formation is not purely an internal psychological process. Rather, it is greatly influenced by the macro- and even micro- contexts. The framework of culture-identity link and other contextual theories of identity are discussed.