Anxiety Trajectories and Identity Development in Adolescence: A Five-wave Longitudinal Study

The aim of this five-wave longitudinal study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and adolescent identity development. Participants were 1,313 adolescents who annually completed measures of anxiety and identity. Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) analyses demonstrated that the adolescent population was best typified by two latent growth trajectory classes: a low anxiety class (n = 1,199) characterized by a low initial level of anxiety that decreased over time and a high anxiety class (n = 114) characterized by a higher initial level of anxiety that increased over time. To answer our research question, we tested a model in which the anxiety classes predicted initial levels and rates of change of three identity dimensions: commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. Findings indicated that the high anxiety adolescents displayed a more troublesome identity development than their low anxiety peers, since their commitments became weaker with age, and they reconsidered them intensively.

Wim MeeusEmail:

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Elisabetta Crocetti   is a post-doctoral researcher of the University of Macerata. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Sciences from the University of Macerata. Theo Klimstra   is a doctoral student at the Research Centre Adolescent Development of Utrecht University. Loes Keijsers   is a doctoral student at the Research Centre Adolescent Development of Utrecht University. William W. Hale III   is Assistant Professor at the Research Centre Adolescent Development, Utrecht University. He received his Ph.D. at the Department of Biological Psychiatry, University of Groningen. Wim Meeus   is Professor of Adolescent Development and chair of the Research Centre Adolescent Development of Utrecht University. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the Utrecht University.