Identity is a critical developmental task during the transition to adulthood in Western societies. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate an empirically based, cluster-analytic identity status model, to examine whether all four of Marcia’s identity statuses (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement) would emerge empirically, and to identify different patterns of identity formation among American college-attending emerging adults. An ethnically diverse sample of 9,034 emerging-adult students (73% female; mean age 19.73 years) from 30 U.S. universities completed measures of identity exploration (ruminative, in breadth, and in depth) and commitment (commitment making and identification with commitment), identity synthesis and confusion, positive and negative psychosocial functioning, and health-compromising behaviors. The identity status cluster solution that emerged provided an adequate fit to the data and included all four of Marcia’s original identity statuses, along with Carefree Diffusion and Undifferentiated statuses. Results provided evidence for concurrent validity, construct validity, and practical applicability of these statuses. Implications for identity research are discussed.

Examining the Light and Dark Sides of Emerging Adults’ Identity: A Study of Identity Status Differences in Positive and Negative Psychosocial Functioning

This chapter examines identity formation in terms of a social-cognitive model. Identity is conceptualized as a cognitive structure or self-theory, which provides a personal frame of reference for interpreting self-relevant information, solving problems, and making decisions. Identity is also viewed as a process that governs and regulates the social-cognitive strategies used to construct, maintain, and/or reconstruct a sense of personal identity. Three different identity-processing orientations or styles are explicated: Informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant. Individuals with an informational processing style are skeptical of their own self-views and they intentionally seek out, process, and utilize identity-relevant information to personally resolve identity conflicts. In contrast, individuals with a normative processing style more automatically adopt a collective sense of identity by internalizing the standards and prescriptions of significant others and referent groups. Those with a diffuse-avoidant processing style are reluctant to confront and face up to identity conflicts; they procrastinate and delay as long as possible. Their actions tend to be influenced more by immediate situational rewards and demands than personally informed decisions or normative standards. Empirical evidence from several lines of research on identity-processing style is reviewed including linkages between identity style and a number of identity and cognitive processes; developmental changes in identity styles; and factors that may contribute to individual differences in identity styles such as gender, culture, parental processes, and personality traits. The role that identity-processing styles may play in effective and ineffective self-regulation and in maintaining a coherent sense of self-continuity is considered.

A social-cognitive perspective on identity construction.

Identity is a critical developmental task during the transition to adulthood in Western societies. The pur- pose of the present study was to evaluate an empirically based, cluster-analytic identity status model, to examine whether all four of Marcia's identity statuses (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement) would emerge empirically, and to identify different patterns of identity formation among American college-attending emerging adults. An ethnically diverse sample of 9,034 emerging- adult students (73% female; mean age 19.73 years) from 30 U.S. universities completed measures of identity exploration (ruminative, in breadth, and in depth) and commitment (commitment making and identification with commitment), identity synthesis and confusion, positive and negative psychosocial functioning, and health-com- promising behaviors. The identity status cluster solution that emerged provided an adequate fit to the data and included all four of Marcia's original identity statuses, along with Carefree Diffusion and Undifferentiated sta- tuses. Results provided evidence for concurrent validity, construct validity, and practical applicability of these sta- tuses. Implications for identity research are discussed.

Examining the Light and Dark Sides of Emerging Adults' Identity: A Study of Identity Status Differences in Positive and Negative Psychosocial Functioning Seth J. SchwartzWim BeyersKoen LuyckxBart SoenensByron L. Zamboanga • Larry F. ForthunSam A. HardyAlexander T. VazsonyiLindsay S. Ham • Su Yeong KimSusan Krauss WhitbourneAlan S. Waterman

Identity style, psychosocial maturity, and academic performance.

A social-cognitive model of identity is presented. Identity is conceptualized as a self-theory, a conceptual structure composed of self-representational and self-regulatory constructs. It is postulated that individuals have different identity processing styles and function as different types of self-theorists: information-oriented problem solvers and decision makers; normative types who conform to the prescriptions of significant others; and diffuse-avoidant theorists who procrastinate and attempt to avoid dealing with identity-relevant conflicts. The role that personal epistemic assumptions play in self-theorizing and the possibility that epistemic assumptions contribute to individual differences in identity style are considered.

Identity processing style, self-construction, and personal epistemic assumptions: A social-cognitive perspective

Revised classification criteria for the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOMEIS)

A sample of state prison inmates (N = 177) completed a measure of identity style and provided information regarding personal, educational, and criminal history. Discriminant analysis was used to construct profiles that differentiated inmates who favored information-oriented, normative-oriented, and diffuse-oriented identiry styles. Inmates with a diffuse orientation were characterized by early involvement in criminal behavior, greater total number of arrests, lack of education, and greater likelihood of parole violation. Inmates with an information orientation were also relatively young when they first engaged in criminal activity, but they reported half as many total arrests, greater levels of educational attainment, and fewer incidents of parole violation. Normative-oriented inmates were distinguished from the others by their relatively late involvement with drugs and the criminal system.

Identity Styles of Male Inmates

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Revised classification criteria for the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOMEIS)

Identity Styles of Male Inmates