IDENTITY STATUS AND ANXIETY IN ARTISTICALLY GIFTED ADOLESCENTS AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

During adolescence, a young person often faces various developmental crises, increased anxiety, as well as a fluctuating experience of their own identity. Adolescents, as a very heterogeneous group, are nevertheless connected by similar crises they go through, and often by the insecurity of their own identity. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between anxiety and identity status in two groups of high school students – artistically gifted students and grammar school students, as well as to examine the differences between these groups in terms of analyzed characteristics. The sample was convenient and consisted of 173 respondents (nmale = 45, nfemale = 128), aged 16 to 18 years (M = 16.70, SD = 1.06). A total of 49.7 percent of the respondents attend secondary art schools, while the remaining respondents (50.3%) are grammar school students. The Modified Marcia Identity Questionnaire and the Anxiety Inventory Form – Y were used in this research. The results show that art school students achieve significantly higher scores than grammar school students on the anxiety dimension (t(171) = 4.92; p < 0.05) and lower values on the identity foreclosure dimension (t(171) = -3.01; p < . 05). Anxiety and identity statuses diffusion and moratorium correlate in both groups of respondents. In grammar school students, identity foreclosure correlates with identity diffusion. It can be concluded that grammar school students who achieve higher scores on identity status, identity foreclosure, avoid the unpleasant state of anxiety and thus search less for answers related to their identity and values. However, although they thereby reduce the experience of anxiety, their identity still remains somewhat vague and diffused.