Abstract
Using a national sample of adults, we examine the relationship between identity discrepancies and mental health in spouse and worker identities. Building on previous research, we predict that discrepancies between how individuals want to be with respect to a particular identity ( aspirations) and perceptions of how others view them in that identity ( reflected appraisals) will be associated with depressive symptoms. Alternatively, discrepancies between how individuals feels they should be ( obligations) and reflected appraisals will be associated with anxiety symptoms. We further examine whether identity salience moderates the relationship between discrepancies and distress. We find aspiration discrepancies are associated with depression as predicted in the spouse identity but not for the worker identity. With respect to obligation discrepancies, we find evidence for the predicted relationships for the spouse and worker identity only when identities are considered salient. We discuss the implications of our findings for the development of identity models of distress.
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