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.     

Ego identity status and decision styles

It was hypothesized that the decision processes used in coping with the identity crisis would be related to more general decision styles in that identity achievers and moratoriums would tend to be reflective in their conceptual tempo while foreclosures would typically be impulsive. No prediction was made about identity diffusions. Ninety-two male college students were given an identity status interview and the Matching Familiar Figures Test. The results were consistent with the hypotheses, and in addition it was found that identity diffusions were generally impulsive. Since conceptual tempo has been found to be well established in childhood, the results of this study have implications for the early prediction of adult identity status.Received Ph.D. from SUNY/Buffalo. Recent research has been mainly concerned with the development of ego identity and correlates of the different identity statuses.Received Ph.D. from SUNY/Buffalo. Recent research has been mainly concerned with the development of ego identity and correlates of the different identity statuses.     

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.     

Identity status in high school students: Critique and a revised paradigm

The validity of applying the Marcia identity status paradigm to study of high school students is examined. Uncritical categorization of young adolescents into the identity statuses originally validated upon university students raises various issues. A revised paradigm for study of identity style among high school students is presented. It is suggested that the issues raised—the validity of measures for varying age groups and the role of environmental demands—are related to the eventual formulation of a life-span conceptualization of identity style.Received his Ph.D. from University of Toronto. Research interests are life-span developmental psychology and adolescent behavior.Received B. A. from the Northeastern Illinois University.     

Separation-individuation and ego identity status in New Zealand university students

This study explores intrapsychic structures underlying Marcia's ego identity statuses in terms of separation-individuation patterns. It was hypothesized that achievement and moratorium adolescents would give greater evidence of intrapsychic differentiation on a projective measure of separation anxiety than would foreclosure or diffusion youths. Marcia's Ego Identity Status Interview and Hansburg's Separation Anxiety Test were administered to 80 female and 60 male volunteers at a New Zealand university. All were under 23 years of age. As predicted, high statuses showed less anxiety than secure attachment or detachment. Contrary to expectation, no differences among attachment styles appeared for low statuses. Difficulties in adapting the identity status interview to the New Zealand context may partially explain these results. A measure of intrapsychic differentiation provides a useful supplement to the identity status interview.This research was supported by a grant from the Internal Research Committee, Victoria University of Wellington. Parts of this research were presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Toronto, 1985.Received Ph.D in child development from Florida State University in 1977. Current research interest is identity formation from a lifespan perspective.     

The extent and effects of peer pressure among high school students: A retrospective analysis

Although people assume that peer pressure is an influential component of adolescent development, few empirical studies have investigated the nature and extent of its influence. Using retrospective accounts from 297 college undergraduates, the present study assessed how much pressure peers exerted in numerous areas of high school life and how this pressure influenced teenagers' attitudes and behaviors. One-third of both genders identified peer pressure as one of the hardest things they had to face as a teenager. Generally, however, peer pressure appeared stronger for females than males, and the genders disagreed about the areas in which pressure was strongest. Perceptions of peer pressure were significantly associated with dating attitudes, sexual activity, and use of drugs and alcohol, but not with relationships with parents. The findings suggested that adolescents may be their own worst enemy in any attempt to break away from gender-stereotypic attitudes and behavior.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Committee on Human Development. Research interests include effects of peer and confidant relationships on adolescents' identity development and ability to cope with stressful life changes.     

Cheating in high school: A comparison of behavior of students in the college prep and general curriculum

A sampling of 1629 students, from 22 high schools, responded to questions regarding cheating in and outside of school. Of this number, 515 were enrolled in the college prep and 744 in the general curriculum. More similarities than statistically significant differences were found in a comparison of their responses. From 25 to 75% of their peers were estimated to be cheaters. Boys were more often guilty than girls. Cheating in mathematics was most common. Failure was the agreed upon punishment for apprehension—to be administered by the teacher. Neither group would squeal on a cheater. A similar number of each would cheat in a pinch. Both have turned in the work of others. Students in both curricular areas agreed that cheating transferred from school to job. Crime does not pay. Cheating was usually discovered. Breaking a law was a form of dishonesty. However, more college prep students admitted trying to cheat on tests while fewer of them would resort to plagiarism or lie to their parents about school. More general students felt that cheating hurt the cheater and few would trust one.Received ED.D. from Georgia Peabody College for Teachers. Currently is a Professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, teaching courses in Educational Psychology and Adolescent Psychology. Major research interest is in adolescence.     

Drug use and level of anxiety among college students

The present study was begun with the expectation that a positive relationship would be found between extent of drug use and level of anxiety, since earlier research had suggested that more anxious individuals were more likely to experiment with drugs. However, this was not found to be the case. Male drug users and nonusers were not found to differ in mean anxiety score on three separate anxiety scales. Female users were found to be less anxious than nonusers, findings contradictory to the initial hypothesis. The findings are consistent with recent research by Cross and Davis (1972) and Hogan et al.(1970) in suggesting that drug users may be more socially outgoing and adventuresome than nonusers.Research interests include psychotherapy processes and the measurement of personality variables.Research interests include drug usage among both college and noncollege youth and the effectiveness of residential and other treatment programs in reducing drug dependence.     

Sex differences in the identity formation of college students from divorced families

This study was desgined to examine gender differences in identity formation in late adolescents from divorced mother-custody families. Fifty-seven female and thirty-nine male college students ranging in age from 17 to 25 years completed the Child's Report of Parental Behavior [E. S. Schaeffer (1965) Children's Reports of Parental Behavior: An Inventory, Child Development, Vol. 36, pp. 412–482] and were interviewed using the J. E. Marcia [(1966) Development and Validation of Ego Identity Status, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 3, pp. 551–558] semistructured Identity Status Interview. While no differences between males and females were found in ratings of overall identity status, significantly more females were in the achieved category within the domains of occupation and attitudes toward premarital sex. Also, males perceived their mothers as significantly more accepting and less controlling than did females. The absence of the father and the altered role of the mother appear to have a differential impact on males and females who have grown up in mother-custody families. Implications of these and other findings are discussed.Received Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College Columbia University. Research interests include adolescent identity formation, the intersection and integration of personal and career counseling, and career development.     

Alcohol use among college students: Some competing hypotheses

This paper presents a longitudinal study of alcohol use among college students. Three hypothesized predictors of alcohol use are found to have an independent effect when the other predictors and prior drinking are held constant: the drinking context of the dormitory living group, informal social involvement in college, and lack of commitment to religious and academic values. These predictors are also related to the onset of drinking during the freshman year for those who entered college as abstainers. The pattern varies somewhat for males and females, with the dormitory contextual effect larger for females. Formal involvement in college activities and psychological stress have no independent effect on drinking. The results are discussed in relation to previous work on alcohol use.This research was supported in part by NIAAA Grant AA02863 and NIMH Grant MH28177 and Veterans Administration Research funds.Received Ph.D. in sociology from Stanford University in 1976. Current research interests include adolescent development, statistics, and environmental studies.Received Ph.D. in psychology from University of California, Berkeley, in 1960. Current research interests are personal and environmental influences on behavior.     

Relationship among ego identity status,field-independence,and traditional femininity

Fifty-five senior college women were given an ego identity status interview, two measures of field-independence (the Embedded Figures Test and figure drawings), and the Gough Femininity Scale. A significant relationship was found between ego identity status and field-independence, as measured by the EFT. Women in those identity statuses defined by occupational, ideological, and sexual commitment (Achievement and Foreclosure) were significantly more field-independent than women in those statuses which were not committed to elements of psychosocial identity (Moratorium and Diffusion). There was a trend toward a significant relationship between ego identity status and traditional femininity. No relationship was found between field-independence and traditional femininity.     

Sex differences in depression across the high school to college transition

Although adolescent and adult females have consistently been found to experience depression at twice the rate of males, the college population has represented a notable exception, with equal rates of depression reported for males and females. Using a cross-sectional design with equivalent measures, we explored the nature of these shifting population statistics by the following: (a) examining whether college females were reporting lower levels of depression, or college males were reporting higher levels of depression, relative to same-sex high school peers; and (b) exploring a number of relevant psychological and psychosocial/environmental variables that might explain these shifts. Replicating previous findings on the presence or absence of gender differences in depression in adolescent vs. college subjects, our data also indicated that this shift could be accounted for by lower levels of depression reported by college, relative to high school, females. Moreover, although psychological variables were the best overall predictors of females' depression levels, differences between high school and college females were best explained by psychosocial/environmental variables. Results are discussed in terms of the contextual features associated with the college environment that might protect women against depression and account for differential depression levels.Graduate student in the Ph.D. program in clinical psychologyResearch interests include cognitive, interpersonal, and social-environmental factors associated with depression.Received Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Research interests include cognitive and developmental aspects of depression. This research was supported, in part, by a faculty grant from Emory University to Linda Koenig.     

Sex differences in sex-role conceptions and family orientation of high school students

Studies of college freshmen find that men are more sexist in their attitudes than women. Does this hold also for high school students? This paper reports the relationship of (1) sex-role attitudes to selected school and family characteristics and (2) attitudes toward family life to sex-role conceptions for women and men. The study is based on 529 students in grades 9 to 12 attending four high schools. The findings show that males are more sexist than females and Blacks more so than Whites. Women who are bright, from upper class backgrounds, and whose mothers work are more equalitarian in sex-role conceptions. For men, family background is unimportant, but attending an elite public school seems to foster equalitarian sex-role conceptions. Men's sex-role attitudes are harder to explain than women's, and, unlike women, their role attitudes have little connection to their family orientation.     

Depressive symptoms and perceived competence among Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong

Depressive symptoms of 621 Grade 7 to Grade 12 secondary school students were assessed and described in terms of dimensions of disturbances in mood, self-image, behavior, hedonic capacity, and self-efficacy using the Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI). Using the cutoff score of 20, 24% of the adolescents would be in the depressed range. In a subsample of 319 students who also completed the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents, depressive symptom levels tended to be highest among students who perceived themselves to be relatively incompetent academically and socially, and lowest among students who perceived themselves to be academically and socially competent, supporting the cumulative effects of perceived academic and social incompetence on depressive symptoms. The relatively more elevated CDI scores and subscores among Chinese adolescents compared with US adolescents and the choice of a cutoff score for screening in the Hong Kong school population are discussed.This study was supported in part by a Chinese University of Hong Kong RGC direct grant for research.     

Risks entailed in teenage intoxication as perceived by junior and senior high school students

In a survey of 1269 junior and senior high school students in a Massachusetts community, a large majority of the respondents indicated they recognized many immediate and long-term risks involved in getting drunk at their age. A considerable minority of the sample, however, did not believe that there were significant hazards associated with youthful intoxication. Implications of the study for educators, counselors, parents, and others concerned about the prevalence of teenage drunkenness are explored.Current research interest are occupational safety and health, and alcohol and youth.Current interests are statistical research and curriculum development.     

The structure of values among college students: An examination of sex differences

Male and female college students stated how proud or ashamed they would be of 96 behaviors. The ratings by each sex were then factor analyzed. While personal accomplishments was found to be the primary factor for males, academic failure was the primary factor for females. An interpretation of these differences in terms of the operation of fear-of-failure dynamics among college women was suggested. Further examination of the factor structures revealed a larger number of morality-related factors for females than for males, suggesting that morality is more differentiated for females. The compatibility of this finding with previous research in the area of moral development was noted.This research was supported in part by a Michigan State University research grant to John Paul McKinney.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University, 1979. Major interests are creativity, play, and values.Received Ph.D. from Ohio State University, 1961. Major interests are adolescence, values, and family patterns.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University, 1979. Major interests are parent-adolescent separation, values, and evaluation research.     

Pilot study examining factors asscociated with academic success for hispanic high school students

This study examines characteristics that distinguish succeeding and failing Hispanic students at an inner-city high school. While research on this topic has historically focused on dropouts, this study seeks to better understand successful high school students. Participants in the study were 48 Hispanic tenth-grade students at a large, predominantly minority and low-income high school. High-and low-risk groups were identified on the basis of ninth-grade attendance rates and course failures. When compared to their high-risk counterparts, low-risk students were found to be more satisfied with their school and to maintain a social group predominantly free of gang members. The findings are discussed in terms of how the distinguishing variables contribute to students' success.Obtained degree in clinical-community psychology from DePaul University. Research focuses on adolescent risk factors, particularly as they relate to academic success and high school completion.Earned degree in clinical-community psychology from the University of Rochester. Has published extensively on issues related to prevention and community psychology. Most recently work has focused on strategies to help high-risk school transfer children adjust to the academic demands of their new schools.