Identity Styles among Omani School Children of 11th & 12th grades and Predicted Psychological Factors

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore identity styles among the 11th and 12th school students in Oman, and to predict them using achievement goal orientations and according to gender and class variables. Two questionnaires, one in identity styles, (informative, normative, avoidance, commitment), done by Berzonsky and translated by AlBadareen and Ghaith (2013), and the other in goal orientations by Rabea’a Rashwan (2006), were administered. The achievement goal orientation consists of four orientations, which are mastery, performance, diffuse and avoidance. The study’s sample targeted 331boys and girls of grades 11 and 12 from four Governorates: Muscat, Al-Batina North, Al-Batina South, and A’Sharqia North. The results showed that children were high in normative and commitment styles and middle in informative and avoidance goals. In addition, the results exhibited that informative goal orientation can be predicted from three independent variables (performance orientation/gender (females) mastery orientation/diffuse avoidance orientation), whereas the normative style can be predicted from one independent variable (mastery/diffuse), while commitment style can be predicted from two independent variables (mastery, diffuse and mastery avoidance). Based on these results several recommendations and research proposals, that reflect the scientific and applied worth of the present study, were presented.