Ego Identity Status Research Articles

Ego Identity Status: A Step in the Differentiation Process

This study examined the relationship between identity development and differentiation levels in young adults. A total of 259 participants completed the Extended Version of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (H. D. Grotevant & G. R. Adams, 1984), the Differentiation of Self Inventory (E. A. Skowron & M. L. Friedlander, 1998), and demographic questions. Results showed that each identity status had a unique effect on the various components of differentiation. Implications of the results for counselors and for future researchers are provided.

Differences in Ego Identity Among College Students Across Age, Ethnicity, and Gender

In this study I explored differences in scores on identity status associated with age, ethnicity, and gender. To assess identity status, 434 college students were administered the Revised Version of the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (Bennion & Adams, 1986). Results indicated that, in general, those who were younger in age or Asian exhibited higher Foreclosure and Identity Diffusion scores. In overall identity scores, there was no difference between men and women. However, for the interpersonal component, men scored higher in levels of Identity Diffusion and Foreclosure. A Gender × Age interaction indicated that women scored higher than men in Identity Achievement at every age range except that of 24 to 26 years, where the women in this group scored lowest in Identity Achievement. This study supports much of the research that has found differences in identity status associated with age, ethnicity, and gender, but some additional unexpected results indicate possible paths for future research.

Identity Constraints: The Perceived Structural Requirements of a 'Good' Identity

Ego Identity Status Theory, following Erikson''s identity theory, describes mature identity as striving towards sameness and continuity, and as thus constrained by structural elements such as closure, consistency and commitment. Lately, however, theoreticians are portraying a relatively unconstrained postmodern, mutable, multiple, Protean self, continuously changing and inconsistent across situations. This paper examines personal narratives of identity formation in order to determine what 30 Jewish modern orthodox young adults implicitly considered to be the structural requirements of a ''good'' identity. Their deliberations regarding a potentially conflictual identity issue (i.e. their religious and sexual development) revealed four constraints on identity: A ''good'' identity must allow for: a sense of consistency, sameness and continuity; the inclusion of all significant identifications; mutual recognition between individual and society; and feelings of authenticity and vitality. The possible implications of the concept of ''identity constraints'' on identity theory are discussed.

The Impact of Parental Separation Anxiety on Identity Development in Late Adolescence and Early Adulthood

A longitudinal study of first-year college students and seniors was conducted in order to investigate the relationships between parental separation anxiety and adolescent identity development. Data was collected from mothers, fathers, and adolescents in the autumn and again in the spring. Mothers and fathers completed the parental separation anxiety questionnaire with two subscales, Comfort with Secure Base Role, and Anxiety about Adolescent Distancing. Their adolescent children completed the Revised Extended Version of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOM-EIS). From hierarchical multiple regressions controlling for Time 1 identity, it appears that mothers’ sense of providing a secure base for their adolescents in college influences their adolescents’identity achievement, whereas fathers’anxiety about distancing has both negative and positive consequences for their adolescents’foreclosure depending on the gender of the adolescent.

Quest and Identity Development: Re-Examining Pathways for Existential Search

This article examines key assumptions underlying quest as a mature religious orientation rooted in existential struggles. Quest is posited by Batson and his colleagues to be an inherently meaningful search in the face of life's challenges. Moreover, Quest is seen to operate across the lifespan independently of the developmental search for identity. Accordingly, quest's relationships with key variables should be mediated by personal meaning but not by identity development. Wong's Personal Meaning Profile and Adams's Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status were used to explore mediation of the relationship between quest (as measured by the Quest scale) and spiritual well-being (as measured by the Spiritual Well-Being Scale [SWBS]). The Quest-SWBS relation was partially mediated by personal meaning and identity development in a sample of 160 university students. These results and their implications for quest are discussed in light of Marcia's identity status theory and Wong's model of personal meaning.

Intergenerational Systems Theory and Identity Development in Young Adult Women

One hundred sixty-four undergraduate women completed the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire, the Parental Relationship Inventory, and the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status in order to determine how intergenerational family systems theory is related to identity development in females. The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that the family and parent-child variables explained 32% of the variance for the achieved, 45% for the foreclosed, 46% for the moratorium, and 55% for the diffused identity statuses. Intergenerational Intimacy, Autonomy Versus Fusion, Intergenerational Intimidation, and Intergenerational Individuation contributed unique variance to the various identity statuses.

Stability of attachment representations during adolescence: the influence of ego-identity status

The purpose of this study was to examine two core assumptions of attachment theory. First, internal working models of attachment should increase in stability during the course of development. Second, attachment is related to the adaptive solution of stage-salient issues, in adolescence, specifically to identity formation. Adolescence as a developmental period of change and reorganization might lead to changes in attachment representations by re-evaluating one's life experiences in the course of general identity development. In a longitudinal study, the stability of attachment representations (assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview) between ages 16 and 18 was examined. In addition, the concurrent and longitudinal associations of identity status at age 16 with attachment representations at ages 16 and 18 were tested. Results showed high stability of attachment representation during that age period. Secure attachment representation was positively associated with the identity status achievement, whereas a dismissing status was positively associated with identity diffusion. Longitudinally, identity diffusion at age 16 predicted attachment representation at age 18 even after controlling for earlier attachment representation. Copyright 2002 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global versus domain-specific statuses in identity research: a comparison of two self-report measures

The present study explored the potential usefulness of global identity statuses (ideological identity) as opposed to domain-specific statuses (occupation, religion, politics) using self-report measures rather than identity interviews. A total of 339 college students from two colleges in Belgium (Europe) completed both the Extended Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status (EOM-EIS) and the Dellas Identity Status Inventory — Occupation, Religious Beliefs, Political Ideology (DISI-ORP). Four types of evidence argued in favour of domain-specific statuses (i.e. low convergence in identity status across domains, moderate convergence between global and domain-specific identity statuses, significant gender differences in domain-specific but not in global identity statuses, and significant associations between identity process and identity content in congruent but not in incongruent domains). In line with earlier research using identity status interviews, it was concluded that adolescent identity is not to be considered a unitary construct and the use of domain-specific identity statuses is recommended whenever possible. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed in terms of adolescents' temporal spacing of identity concerns. Finally, the limitations of identity questionnaires (additive approach to global identity statuses) are pointed out. Identity interviews (indicative approach to global statuses) can yield a very different picture of identity.

Adolescent Identity Formation: Religious Exploration and Commitment

Two studies investigated links between adolescents' attempts to deal with religious issues, in particular, religious doubt and identity development. Identity status was measured by the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (Adams, Bennion, & Huh, 1989; Adams, Shea, & Fitch, 1979), which is based on crisis-exploration and commitment. Study 1 involved 132 university students, and Study 2 included 937 senior high school students. Identity achievement scores were linked to seeking out both belief-confirming consultation (BCC) and belief-threatening consultation (BTC) for religious doubts. Moratorium scores were modestly related to more religious doubting and lack of religious commitment, and also with avoidance of BCC. More foreclosed people were more religiously committed and less doubtful of religious teachings. Doubt consultation for the foreclosed tended to involve belief-confirming sources and avoidance of belief-threatening resources. More diffused individuals tended to experience more religious doubts, be religiously uncommitted, disagree with religious teachings, and avoid both BCC and BTC. Also, identity achievement was positively related to healthy personal adjustment, whereas diffusion was negatively related to healthy personal adjustment. Discussion focuses on the ways in which the concurrent and longitudinal patterns of identity-religion links in these studies support the conceptualization of identity formation and the role that religion plays in the identity process.

Factor-analytic structures in the English and Japanese versions of the Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status (OMEIS)

This research describes an exploratory factor analysis for the purposes of factorial validation for both the English and Japanese versions of the Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status (OMEIS)—Ideological version (Adams, Bennion, & Huh, 1989). The Japanese OMEIS is a direct translation of the English OMEIS (Ohnishi, 1998). The study reports the factor structure of the OMEIS—Ideological version in English and Japanese. A principal factor analysis (PFA) with both oblique and orthogonal solutions was performed. Alpha reliabilities for the factors are presented. The present research compares and contrasts the factor structures of OMEIS—Ideological version, derived from a U.S. sample and a Japanese sample, comprising women from late adulthood to middle age. Cultural differences between the two sample populations are explored.

The relationship of ethnic identity and ego identity status among adolescents and young adults

A multi-ethnic sample of 248, ages 13–26, was used to examine the effects of age, gender, and ethnic group membership on ethnic identity and ego identity scores. Subjects were recruited from college and public schools in a large northeastern metropolitan area. The multigroup ethnic identity measure (MEIM) was used to assess ethnic identity and ego identity status was measured by the extended objective measure of ego identity status (EOMEIS). An age by ethnic group design was employed. Consistent findings of significant ethnic group differences in levels of ethnic identity were observed. Age and ethnic group were found to contribute differently to ethnic identity and ego identity status. The relationship between ethnic identity and ego identity status was found to be pronounced among subjects of color but not as dramatic as hypothesized.

Ego Identity Status, Identity Style, and Personal Expressiveness

This study represents an investigation of relationships among three sets of identity constructs, including the ego identity statuses, the identity styles, and personal expressiveness. The Ego Identity Process Questionnaire was used to assess identity status as conceptualized by J. E. Marcia. The Identity Style Inventory was used to assess identity style as conceptualized by M. D. Berzonsky. The Personally Expressive Activities Questionnaire was used to measure feelings of personal expressiveness as described by A. S. Waterman. Data were collected from two samples of students at two universities. The measures were considered in pairs to examine the convergence among the constructs. Results revealed that these three measures, and perhaps the underlying constructs, are convergent. Associations between measures are discussed in relation to previous research and theory.

Ego identity status research in the new millennium

The present brief report overviews developments in the field of ego identity status research over the past 35 years and suggests directions for identity status research as we enter the new millenium. In the mid 1960s, James Marcia (1966, 1967) expanded Erik Erikson’s (1968) concept of ego identity to suggest four qualitatively different styles by which late adolescents undertake identity-deifning psychosocial commitments. Over the ensuing decades, identity status research focused primarily on validating the identity statuses and finding associated personality correlates, examining patterns of change over time, and investigating familial communication patterns associated with each of the identity positions. Research in the new millennium might fruitfully address the course and contents of identity beyond late adolescence as well as predictors of developmental arrest. A greater range of developmental contexts in which identity formation occurs is also in need of examination. Ultimately, an individual’s interpretation of context and further mediating events that may be associated with identity status resolutions are critical to a more complete understanding of the identity formation process.

Barriers to ego identity status formation: a contextual qualification of Marcia's identity status paradigm

While many psychological, sociological and educational researchers acknowledge that ego identity formation is a socially embedded process, others have found that identity research often focuses, almost exclusively, on internal psychological development. The concept of “barriers” provides a means by which to describe external influences associated with adolescent and young adult ego identity exploration and commitment processes which affect and possibly limit individual developmental options. Based on Erikson's assumption that ego identity formation involves both personal growth and communal change, the barriers qualification expands upon Marica's identity status paradigm to more accurately reflect socio-cultural variables which may have impact upon individual internal psychological function.

Identity formation among African late-adolescents in a contemporary South African context

Questions relating to the domainsof occupation, religion and politics, taken fromMarcia's original Identity Status Interview, as wellas questions on attitudes toward pre-marital sex,formulated by Marcia and Friedman (1970), were used todetermine the nature of identity-related choices (egoidentity statuses) made by 102 African first-yearuniversity students from both sexes in the present-daySouth African circumstances. It was found thatsignificantly more female and also male adolescentsused sophisticated decision-making modes (identityachievement and moratorium) in forming an occupationalidentity, and that males were more inclined to useless sophisticated modes (foreclosure and identitydiffusion) in the area of religion. In contrast tofindings often obtained in Western settings a highproportion of male adolescents achieved a maturepolitical identity, indicating high levels of personaland emotional involvement in political affairs.Significantly more female participants usedsophisticated modes of decision-making in forming asexual identity. A comparison of the patterns ofdecision-making between the sexes revealed nosignificant differences in the domains of occupation,religion, and attitudes toward premarital sex.However, a significant difference was obtained for thedomain of politics, suggesting greater diversity inthe way that female adolescents deal with the world ofpolitics in comparison with males. It can be concludedfrom the findings that Marcia's identity statusparadigm is a fruitful method of studying identityformation in an African context, however, the use ofqualitative methods would provide valuable insightinto the peculiarities of formulating a personalidentity in a different (African) cultural setting.

Relationships among identity statuses and social adaptation at school indices

Research report on relationship between ego identity and aspects of social functioning at school is presented. Subjects were 110 Lithuanian 12-th graders, 46 male and 64 female. For the assessment of identity status the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, final revision (EOMEIS-2) developed by Adams, Bennion, and Huh (1989) was translated into Lithuanian language. Self-report Subjective Social Well-Being Scale and Problem Behavior Scale completed by teachers, as well as popularity in class, served as functioning in school indices and also as a criteria for predictive validation of the EOMEIS-2.EOMEIS showed satisfactory reliability and construct and criterion validity. Ideological moratoriums were more popular than ideological achievers. Interpersonally committed statuses had better subjective social adaptation than interpersonally non-committed statuses. Interpersonal diffusions and foreclosures displayed less problem behaviors than interpersonal moratoriums and achievers.

Ego Identity Status in Cross-Cultural Context: A Replication Study

The purpose was to replicate research by Jensen, Kristiansen, Sandbekk, and Kroger. In that 1998 study, patterns of identity development were examined for late adolescents raised in the mixed liberal welfare-state economic system of Norway compared with late adolescents raised in the free-market economic system of the United States. In the present study, scores for ego identity status were examined for a further sample of 58 (38 women, 20 men) Norwegian and 1,498 (814 women, 684 men) American undergraduate students using the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-2. Present results were consistent with those of Jensen, et al., which found Norwegian students to score consistently lower on extent of exploration and of commitment than American students. This study provides further evidence that in late adolescence, Norwegian students may undergo greater moderation in identity exploration and commitment processes than their United States peers. Findings are discussed in the light of social, political, and economic differences between the two nations.

Prayer in the lives of late adolescents

Prayer is a behavior that is performed by most people at least at some time, and yet social scientists appear to have neglected this topic. College students were interviewed, given the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, and asked to keep 7-day diaries about their prayer activities, whether spontaneous or formal.Correlational analyses revealed a relationship between identity status and frequency of praying, as well as between identity status and commitment to religion. A qualitative analysis of the diary data suggested that prayer may be a revealing approach to the psychosocial lives of late adolescents, including their central concerns, temporal orientation, and the social bounds of their definition of self.

Predicting Career Indecision in College Students: The Roles of Identity Formation and Parental Relationship Factors

Students' identity formation and perceptions of parental acceptance and encouragement of independence were investigated as predictors of career indecision. The Mother‐Father‐Peer Scale (Epstein, 1983), Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (Bennion & Adams, 1986), and Career Decision Scale (Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976) were administered to 169 undergraduate students with a mean age of 19.68. Analysis using multiple regression indicated that career indecision was predicted by a greater degree of identity moratorium and diffusion, less maternal acceptance and fewer years in college. Suggestions for future research and counseling applications are provided.

Ego Identity Status in cross-cultural context: a comparison of Norwegian and United States university students.

To examine patterns of identity development for late adolescents raised in the Norwegian mixed liberal welfare-state economic system compared with late adolescents raised in the free-market economic system of the United States, ego identity status scores and distributions were examined for 56 (37 women, 19 men). Norwegian and 1498 (814 women, 684 men) United States undergraduate university students using the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-2. The United States sample was drawn from four geographic regions and comprised of those who had participated in prior studies performed by Adams. Significant differences were found between the two nations on all identity status subscales in the ideological and interpersonal domains for each sex. The more moderate identity status scale scores evidenced by the Norwegian sample may reflect a cultural trend toward greater moderation in the exploration and commitment process.