The relationship between identity status,locus of control,and ego development

Based upon the assumption that identity status, locus of control, and ego stage development are interrelated psychological mechanisms that screen and filter social stimuli, a comparison of the three psychological constructs was completed using 294 college students. Identity achievement students were found to be more advanced in their ego stage development and level of internality, while diffusion students were less advanced. Contrary to expectations, no evidence was found for intraindividual development based upon cross-sectional data.Research interests are personality and social development of adolescents, interpersonal attraction, and family relations.Received her M.S. in human development from Utah State University.     

Ego Strength Development of Adolescents Involved in Adult-Sponsored Structured Activities

A psychosocial conception of ego strengths is presented in relation to adolescent involvement in adult-sponsored structured youth activities. Five-hundred and seventeen high school students completed measures on their involvement in structured activities and on 8 ego strengths. Gender, age, and SES were controlled in a MANCOVA procedure and it was found that extracurricular activities of sports, student government, and belonging to an issues group, as well as engagement in volunteerism were related to several of the ego strengths. Religious attendance was not related to the ego strengths. In longitudinal analysis, it was shown that ego strength at Time 1 predicted involvement in structured activities at Time 2 (8 months later), but structured activities at Time 1 did not predict ego strength at Time 2. The findings are discussed relative to theory and research findings on the topic.Carol A. Markstrom is a Professor in Family and Consumer Sciences, West Virginia University. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology in 1988 from Utah State University. Her research interests include adolescent identity formation, positive youth development, American Indian adolescents, and indigenous models of human development.Xaioming Li is a Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 1992 from the University of Minnesota. Research interests (in general) include child development, adolescent health risk prevention and intervention, research methodology, and biostatistics.Shana L. Blackshire is a M. S. Instructor, Child Development and Family Studies, Division of Family and Consumer Sciences, West Virginia University.Juanita J. Wilfong is a graduate student, Elementary Education, West Virginia University.     

Ego identity status,ego development,and locus of control in college women

This study examined the relationship of identity status to ego development and locus of control in 75 college women. The identity statuses did not differ significantly in self-reported locus of control, but did differ on the depth measure of ego development. Consistent with identity theory and with previous research with males, identity achievers and moratorium (incrisis) women were more advanced in their ego development than fore-closure and diffusion women.This article is based in part on the doctoral dissertation of Sheila D. Ginsburg, Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy degree, University of Missouri—St. Louis.Received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri—St. Louis. Current research interests include normative and dysfunctional development in children and adolescents.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at State University of New York at Buffalo. Research interests include personality and social development of adolescents and young adults.     

The state of research on ego identity: A review and appraisal

Considerable research on ego identity has appeared over the past 15 years, indicating the need for an overall review. Part I commences by considering the complexity of Erikson's concept and suggesting several different theoretical contexts in which it has been used. The validity of investigators' attempts to operationalize the concept ego identity is assumed to depend in part upon their interpretations of its meaning. The subsequent review of empirical literature is organized according to different procedures which have been used to measure ego identity. A first section summarizes and evaluates research utilizing Q-sort and self-report questionnaire measures, while a second considers the large number of investigations that have employed James Marcia's Identity Status Interview. The latter group of studies are ordered according to the type of dependent variable (e.g., cognitive, behavioral, personality, developmental) examined in relation to ego identity status (i.e., achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, diffusion). Part II of the review, to appear in the next issue of this journal, will recapitulate the identity status literature, present an overall evaluation of the identity status paradigm, and suggest a number of issues for future research.Support for this study comes from research training grant No. 5-T32MH14668-02 awarded to Dr. D. Offer by the National Institute of Mental Health.Postdoctoral Fellow in the Clinical Research Training Program in Adolescence jointly sponsored by the Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training of Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center and the Committee on Human Development of the University of Chicago. Present research interests include adolescent ego development and epistemological/methodological issues in personality theory and measurement.     

Gender,ethnic group,and grade differences in psychosocial functioning during middle adolescence?

Prior research has found significant differences between ethnic groups in identity formation. However, most investigations have either failed to include or adjust for SES level differences. To reassess possible differences in psychosocial development between African American, American Indian, Mexican American, and White American 10th–12th grade male and female adolescents (n=123), ethnic groups were compared according to passive-active dimensions delineated in identity, sex role orientation, and locus of control. A series of analyses of covariance (using education level of father and mother as covariates) were computed using ethnicity, grade, and gender in the factorial model as main effects. Consistent with previous research, White adolescents scored significantly lower than the other groups on ideological foreclosure. Overall, however, more similarity than differences between the four ethnic groups were found. Older students were observed to be more psychosocially mature, and males scored higher than females on identity diffusion. Marginal support was gained for the proposed passive-active delineations of the dependent variables.Partial support for this project was provided to Gerald Adams through funding from the Utah State Agricultural Experiment Station, Logan, Utah, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Ottawa, Canada.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Department of Psychology, Utah State University. Research interests: identity formation, ego strength and psychosocial maturity in adolescence, interfaith dating and courtship, and ethnic contexts of development.(Visiting Professor, Division of Family Resources, West Virginia University, 1994–1995 academic year.) Received Ph.D. in human development and family studies, Pennsylvania State University. Research interests: personality and social development in adolescence, identity formation, parent-adolescent relationships, and adolescent social problems.     

The Development of Stereotypes About the Rich and Poor: Age,Race, and Family Income Differences in Beliefs

African American and European American 4th, 6th, and 8th graders rated the competence of rich and poor children in academics (i.e., math, science, reading, writing, school grades, smartness), sports, and music. In contrast to middle school students, 4th graders favored the rich in all 3 domains. Youth of both races reported that the rich were more competent in academics than the poor; these beliefs were especially pronounced among Black youth. White, older, and more affluent students favored the poor in sports, whereas their counterparts either favored the rich or were egalitarian. No interactions were found between grade and race or grade and family income. The implications of these beliefs for policy and identity development theory are discussed. Doctoral student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Research interests include the influence of race identity, race socialization, and stereotypes on the academic achievement of African American youth. Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Received Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Her research specialty is the development of children's achievement-related beliefs. Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Received Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Research interests include predictors of academic self-views in children and adolescents.     

Gender differences in identity formation as a function of self-other relationships

Effects of differential male-female relational definitions of self on resolutions to the first six of Erikson's identity crises were examined in a sample of 388 adolescent males and females. Subject categorization of relational self-definitions was based on the Relational Self-Definition Scale. Resolutions to identity crises were measured by the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI). Predictions were drawn from theoretical notions related to Gilligan's view of distinctive male-female trends in self-other development and indicated that males with self-definitions separate from others and females with self-definitions connected with others would report higher degrees of positive resolutions on EPSI subscales compared to males with connected self-definitions and females with separate self-definitions. Results revealed that specific predictions were supported for resolutions to Trust, Initiative, and Intimacy crises independent of individual differences in age, educational level, vocabulary, and socioeconomic status of subjects. This suggests that gender differences in identity development may be linked to distinctive malefemale trends in the use of relational self-definitions consistent with Gilligan's views.Received Ph.D. from Wayne State University in applied/personality psychology. Research interests include self-other development in adolescence and adulthood.     

Sex differences in the resolution of the identity crisis

Based on Erikson's view of the importance of inner space in feminine identity, researchers have added an interview on premarital sex to the standard ego identity interview on occupation, religion, and politics used for males. This study was designed to investigate the relative importance of premarital sexual ideology for males and females, as well as sex differences in identity status on occupation, religion, and politics. Marcia's semi-structured ego identity status interview was given to 70 male and 70 female college students, with premarital sex questions included for both sexes. Consistent with Erikson's theory, females were more likely than males to have experienced a sexual identity crisis, whereas males were very likely to be foreclosed in this area. Males as well as females were more likely to be committed about sex than about any other area. In all areas except sex, female identity followed basically the same pattern as male identity.Received her Ph.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo. Current research interests are ego identity and human sexuality.Received his Ph. D. from State University of New York at Albany. Current research interests are mental health evaluation and behavior therapy.     

Psychological adjustment in a college-level program of marked academic acceleration

The questionnaire responses of 24 markedly accelerated young students were compared with those of 24 regular-aged university students, 23 National Merit Scholars, and 27 students who had qualified for acceleration but instead elected to participate in high school. Measures included the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, California Psychological Inventory, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Accelerated students differed minimally from the college-aged groups, and not at all from high-ability age mates, on all of the measures, a finding contrary to the expectation that skipping high school is likely to be deleterious to one's adjustment. Both groups of normal-aged college students were more socially assertive. The accelerated students were less conforming and conventional than the others, but mean differences were small and not indicative of admustment difficulties. The study provides no basis for concern about the typical psychological and social adjustment of accelerated students.The research reported here and, in part, the program it describes, were funded by a grant from the William H. Donner Foundation, the support of which is gratefully acknowledged.Received Ph.D. from Standford University. Research interests include the development of gifted and mentally retarded individuals.Received Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Research interests include psychosocial aspects of talent development.     

Abortion research: attitudes,sexual behavior,and problems in a community college population

One hundred fifty community college students, 95% Caucasian, were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward abortion, their sexual behavior, and their problems. Although 70% of the students were raised Catholic, 82% supported abortion choice. Eighty-six percent had engaged in premarital sex, 70% used contraception, and 26% had premarital pregnancies. When anti-abortion students were compared with pro-abortion students, they had more religiosity, believed that abortion was murder, were more punitive toward the woman and medical personnel involved, were less sexually active, and less likely to know someone who had an abortion. Many students had a history of, and were currently experiencing, serious problems, especially the females.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Tufts University. Research interests include gender development and abuse.Received C.A.S. in school psychology from Harvard University. Research interests include corporal punishment and battered wives.     

Intellectual ability,rationality, and intuitiveness as predictors of warranted and unwarranted optimism for future life events

The social calculations involved in assessing one's life chances were examined. Undergraduates estimated the probability that they would experience positive and negative life events and the probability that others would experience the same events. Participants evinced considerable bias in their estimates, expressing the belief that they would experience more desirable and fewer undesirable events than others. Important individual differences in these biases were found. Particularly regarding academic/career events, those with superior intellectual ability expressed more bias than their peers. Surprisingly, even students in the bottom third of intellectual ability displayed considerable academic/career bias. Cognitive style was also linked with the extensiveness of biased perceptions: individuals high in Need for Cognition were more optimistically biased than their peers in the academic/career domain. Also, relative to participants whose cognitive style was more rational, those who relied on intuitive processing believed that both positive and negative events were more likely to be experienced, by both the self and others. Finally, students who eventually dropped out of college were lower in Need for Cognition and had more unrealistic expectations regarding both positive and negative life events than students who remained in school. These findings are discussed in terms of general adolescent phenomena, such as individuation, identity, and the personal fable, and cognitive factors, such as the knowledge of base rate information and the availability heuristic.Received Ph.D. in 1989 from West Virginia University.Research interests include contextual influences on adolescence reasoning and problem solving, the impact of motivational and context-sensitive goals on reasoning and problem solving, and the interactions among adolescent critical thinking, self-serving biases, and identity information.Received M. A. in Clinical Psychology from Western Carolina University. Currently enrolled in Penn State University Ph.D. Program in Counseling Psychology. Research interests include intellectual development and assessment, personality assessment, and work place adjustment.     

The state of research on ego identity: A review and appraisal

In the first part of this review (see Volume 7, Number 3 of this journal), a comprehensive survey of empirical research on ego identity was presented. Special emphasis was given to the large number of studies employing James Marcia's identity status paradigm. Research within this paradigm is recapitulated here by presenting empirical results which typify each of the four identity statuses (i.e., achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion). A detailed evaluation of the identity status paradigm itself follows. Among the topics considered are (1) the construct and external validity of the approach as a whole, (2) the rationale and discriminant validity of the identity statuses, and (3) the reliability of the Identity Status Interview. Part II concludes by considering a number of problems for future research. Several persisting methodological and substantive issues within the identity status paradigm are noted. Finally, it is suggested that investigators turn their attention to the processes mediating identity formation. Contemporary psychoanalytic conceptions of adolescent development are viewed as providing one possible theoretical framework for investigating such processes.Support for this study comes from Research Training Grant No. 5T32MH14668-02 awarded to Dr. D. Offer by the National Institute of Mental Health.Postdoctoral Fellow in the Clinical Research Training Program in Adolescence jointly sponsored by the Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training of Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center and the Committee on Human Development of the University of Chicago. Research interests are adolescent ego development and epistemological/methodological issues in personality theory and measurement.     

Ego identity status and values among high school females

To test the hypothesis that adolescent females who are high in ego identity have high interests in religious and political values, the relationship between the ego identity status of 80 senior high school females and their response to the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values was examined. Participants classified as being identity achievements, moratoriums, and foreclosures had higher religious value scores than did diffusions; however, the expected differences on political value scores were not found. Two-thirds of the identity achievers came from homes disrupted by divorce or death of one parent, while less than 20% of the members of the other three statuses came from broken homes.This report is based on the first author's M.A. thesis, which was submitted to the Graduate School, Texas Woman's University, 1978.Received her M.A. from Texas Woman's University. Major interests are ego identity formation and female adolescent development.Received Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Major interests are developmental effects of stress and neurophysiology.     

Depression and substance use in two divergent high school cultures: A quantitative and qualitative analysis

Research has generally concluded that adolescent depression and substance use are strongly interrelated, but has rarely considered how this relationship may vary across diverse populations. In this study, we used quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the relationships among depression and cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and harder drug use across two culturally disparate environments: a suburban and an inner-city high school. Our sample included 164 suburban and 242 inner-city high school students. The students completed Kovacs' Children's Depression Inventory of 1985 and substance use measures derived from various sources. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with subjects who scored in the top 10% of the CDI (N=19) from both schools. Our quantitative findings indicated a positive association between depression and cigarette, marijuana, and harder drug use among the suburban students, and no association between depression and the use of any substances for the urban students. There were no significant differences in levels of reported depression across samples. However, with the exception of marijuana use, suburban students reported greater involvement in substance use than urban students. Our qualitative analyses suggest that across-school differences in the relationships among depression and substance use may be related to the varied meanings of depression and substance use that are informed by cultural context.The research was funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), Grant No. 1 R01 DA-06844, Perry London, principal investigator. The views, opinions, and findings contained in their article are not to be construed as NIDA's position or policy.B.A. from University of California, Berkeley, and Ed.D. from the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. Research interests include the phenomenology of high-risk behavior and social development among urban adolescents.B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and Ed.M. from the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. Research interests include the relationships among high-risk behavior, personality variables, and cultural context.B.A. from Michigan State University, M.A. from University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Ed.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Research interests include integrating quantitative and qualitative methods in social science research and the phenomenology of high-risk behavior.Research interests included adolescent high-risk behavior and ethnic and religious identity development. Deceased June 1992.     

Gender differences associated with young people's emotional reactions to sexual intercourse

The differences between male and female adolescents' emotional reactions to their most recent occasion of sexual intercourse were examined. The sample included 932 sexually active Australian secondary school students who completed a self-report questionnaire concerning their sexual behavior. The majority of young people reported that they felt happy or good following their most recent occasion of sex. Females were more likely than males to report negative emotions such as feeling bad and used, but there was no difference between the percentage of males and the percentage of females who reported feeling guilty. Girls were more likely to feel bad, used, or guilty last time if they were drunk/high or had sex with someone who was not a steady partner. Boys who had sex with someone other than a steady partner last time were more likely to feel guilty. Peer and parental influences were also associated with feelings of guilt. Girls who were more confident that they could talk to one of their parents/guardians about sex, and boys who believed that most of their peers were sexually active, were less likely to have felt guilty.Received B.A. (Hons) from University of Queensland. Research interests include adolescents mental and sexual health.Received B.A.(Hons) from University of Queensland. Interested in the areas of sex roles and sexual behavior among adolescents.Received Ph.D. from Murdoch University. Research interests include population studies of sexual behavior and mental health.Received M.B.B.S., M.D. from University of Sydney. Research interests include adolescent health, psychological response in disasters, coping with grief and loss and living with HIV/AIDS.     

Identity and intimacy: An initial investigation of three theoretical models using cross-lag panel correlations

This investigation specified three models regarding the association between identity and intimacy formation and investigated their potential validity using a longitudinal cross-lag panel design. Seventy-one males and 71 females completed identity and intimacy measures on two occasions over a 5-week period. The primary findings are (1) individuals with a clear sense of identity are more likely, 5 weeks later, to have a more advanced sense of intimacy for both sexes when sex-role identification is removed from gender comparisons; (2) sex-role orientation mediates the identity/intimacy association, while for females, a masculine orientation is associated with a pattern similar to that observed for either masculine- or feminine-oriented males; and (3) femininity is associated with a more fused connection between identity and intimacy for females. This report provides an initial investigation studying the identity/intimacy association during late adolescence based on three theoretical perspectives. Theoretical interpretations and conclusions are offered.Partial support for this project was provided by grants to the second author from the Utah State University Agricultural Experiment Station and the Office of Research, Utah State University. Approved as journal paper No. 3917.Research interests are adolescent identity development in the family context, adolescent sexuality, and sex-role development.Research interests focus on personality and social development during adolescence.     

Cognitive development,epistemic doubt,and identity formation in adolescence

This study was undertaken to evaluate the part that nascent skeptical doubt plays in shaping the course of adolescent social-cognitive development. It is argued that the intellectual changes that accompany the acquisition of formal operational competence set in motion a series of developments that seriously undermine the typical adolescent's previous sense of epistemic certainty. An epistemic model is proposed, leading to the hypothesis that, in response to such doubts, young persons adopt one of several contrasting interpretive strategies, each of which dictates much about their subsequent solutions to the problems of identity formation and commitment. To evaluate these hypotheses, 96 high school aged young people were classified as being either concrete or formal operational. Those subjects who were clearly classifiable (N=70) were administered Adams' Objective Measure of Ego identity Status and the Epistemic Doubt Interview, which permits identification of realistic, defendedly realistic, dogmatic/skeptical, and rational epistemic stances. A relationship between cognitive and epistemic development was found. Only formal operational subjects appreciated the generic nature of the doubt undermining their epistemic certainty. Predictions regarding the anticipated relation between epistemic stance and ego identity status were supported, revealing that only postrealist epistemic stances were routinely associated with membership in the moratorium or achieved identity statuses. The results are taken as strong support for the claim that epistemic doubt plays a central role in shaping the course of adolescent social-cognitive development.This research was partially supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship awarded to the first author.Obtained Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of British Columbia. Research interests are focused upon the areas of overlap among cognitive, epistemic, and moral development, and the identity formation process through the adolescent years.Obtained Ph.D. in psychology from The University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include epistemic and social-cognitive development in children and adolescents, and young children's developing theories of mind.     

A longitudinal study of ego identity development at a liberal arts college

Ego identity development in the areas of occupational choice, religion, and political ideology was studied using Marcia's categorization system. The results indicated a significant increase in the frequency of the identity achiever status for occupational choice and corresponding decreases in the frequency of the moratorium and identity diffusion statuses. A significant decrease in the frequency of foreclosures on religion was also found. In those instances where students underwent an identity crisis, the probability of resolving it successfully was very high. High scores on the Cultural Sophistication scale of the College Student Questionnaire-Part 1 were found to be associated with presence in the identity achievement status. For students not in the achiever status as freshmen, an interest in various literary and art forms was predictive of becoming an achiever while in college.Received his Ph.D. from SUNY/Buffalo. Recent research has been mainly concerned with the development of ego identity and with techniques for resolving identity crises.Received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. Recent research has been mainly concerned with personality moderators of human judgment.     

Fathers and sons: A study of ego identity across two generations

This study was designed to compare the relative frequencies of the various ego identity statuses across two generations and to determine the nature of the relationship between the identity statuses of fathers and their sons. Male college students and their fathers were given Marcia 's semistructured ego identity status interview. Generational comparisons revealed that the fathers were significantly more likely than their sons to be in the foreclosure category and were significantly less likely than their sons to be in the moratorium and diffusion statuses. No relationship was found between the identity statuses of fathers and their sons. Among the fathers, high levels of education were found to be associated with identity achievement, while low levels of education were associated with identity diffusion.     

Separation-individuation and ego identity status in late adolescence: A two-year longitudinal study

This study was undertaken to clarify developmental relationships between intrapsychic object relations structure and ego identity status during late adolescence; one purpose was to examine the possible predictive relationship between initial attachment style and later identity status. A total of 76 subjects (41 females and 35 males) who had been given the Marcia Ego Identity Status Interview and the Hansburg Separation Anxiety Test (SAT) as first-year university students in 1984 were reassessed two years later. Fitted log linear models indicated strong links between attachment style and identity status in 1986, and between identity status in 1984 and 1986; only an indirect connection existed between attachment style in 1984 and 1986 as measured by the SAT. When 1984 and 1986 identity status were known, it was possible to predict 1986 attachment style without knowing 1984 attachment style; 1984 attachment style alone was unable to predict later identity status accurately.This research was supported by a grant from the Internal Research Committee, Victoria University of Wellington.Received Ph.D. in Child Development from the Florida State University. Current research interest is identity formation from a life-span perspective.Received Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics from Victoria University of Wellington. Among current research interests is the analysis of sparse contingency tables.