A fundamental aspect of the general study of undergraduate college students is the nature of individual student change and stability during matriculation. An often-used theoretical orientation within which to analyze this change and stability is focused on the of the student. The language that describes the phenomena of interest varies: personality growth, natural growth, increase in level of maturity, self-actualization, resolution of identity crisis, stabilization of ego identity, development of ego-identity status, and similar phrases. Although these various terms do not have exactly the same referent, the phenomenon that each of them circumscribes does fall within a general developmental model. The application of this framework to college students no doubt owes much of its popularity to the fact that it extends to late adolescence and early adulthood a theoretical approach that is widely used in analyzing the period of infancy, childhood, and early adolescence. Moreover, the use of this framework contributes to the increas-