大学生自我同一性与亲子依恋、因果取向之间的关系

通过对536名大学生的问卷调查,考察了大学生的自我同一性状态与亲子依恋、因果取向之间的关系。结果表明:良好的亲子依恋有利于大学生的自我同一性形成,使大学生更可能处于同一性获得状态,避免同一性扩散。除直接影响外,亲子依恋以因果取向中的自主取向和非个人取向为中介对同一性状态产生重要的间接影响,从而揭示了亲子依恋对大学生自我同一性发挥影响的作用方式。     

大学生自我同一性状态与“大五”人格、因果取向的关系

通过对536名大学生的问卷调查,采用结构方程模型考察了大学生的自我同一性状态与"大五"人格、因果取向之间的关系。结果发现,(1)"大五"人格和因果取向均是大学生自我同一性状态的重要预测因素,能在较大程度上解释大学生所处自我同一性状态(特别是同一性获得状态和扩散状态)上的差异;(2)因果取向在"大五"人格对自我同一性状态的影响中起重要的中介作用。     

大学生亲子依恋、分离-个体化与自我同一性状态之间的关系

通过对1131名大学生的问卷调查,运用结构方程模型技术考察了亲子依恋、分离-个体化与大学生自我同一性状态之间的关系。结果表明：（1）良好的亲子依恋可较强地正向预测大学生的积极分离-个体化,同时较强地负向预测消极分离-个体化;（2）亲子依恋除对同一性早闭状态有直接的正向预测作用外,对其他三种同一性状态的影响均以积极分离-个体化和消极分离-个体化为中介实现的。亲子依恋和分离-个体化两方面相结合形成了积极的亲子关系环境,有利于大学生自我同一性的形成。     

Ethnic Identity and Its Relation to Self‐Esteem and Ego Identity Among College Students in a Multiethnic Region1

This study investigated the role of ethnic identity in psychological adjustment. A sample of 209 college students in a multiethnic region completed questionnaires on ethnic identity, self‐esteem, and ego identity. The results indicated that ethnic identity was positively related to self‐esteem, especially with the affirmation and belonging component among Japanese and Filipino American students, and with the ethnic identity achievement component among multiethnic students. The overall relationship between ethnic and ego identities was positive, particularly in ethnic identity achievement scores. The combination of strong ethnic identity and a positive attitude toward other groups was related to advanced ego identity. Ethnic identity was different among ethnic groups, revealing that the development of ethnic identity is interactive in social contexts. Suggestions for future research and implications for multiculturalism are discussed.     

青少年自我同一性状态的发展及其与父母教养权威性、同一性风格的关系

采用修订的自我同一性状态问卷、同一性风格问卷和父母教养方式问卷对1233名初中生、高中生和大学生进行调查研究,考察青少年自我同一性状态的发展特点以及父母教养权威性、同一性风格和自我同一性状态之间的关系。结果发现:从初中到高中,青少年的自我同一性状态表现出前进的发展趋势,高中和大学阶段处于四种同一性状态的人数比例不存在明显差异;男大学生比女大学生更多地处于同一性获得状态;父母教养权威性既对同一性状态有直接预测作用,又以同一性风格为中介对其产生间接影响。     

Ethnic identity,ego identity,and psychological well‐being among mixed‐ethnic Arab‐European adolescents in Israel

This study explored the relationship between ethnic identity, ego identity, and psychological wellbeing among mixed‐ethnic adolescents with European mothers and Arab fathers in Israel. One hundred and twenty‐seven mixed‐ethnic adolescents (13 to 18 years) were instructed to respond to a modified version of Phinney's (1992) Multigroup ethnic identity measure (MEIM), to Bennion and Adams' (1986) ego identity measure (EOM‐EIS) and to Ryff's (1999) psychological well‐being scale. It was found that Arab and European ethnic identities, composed of ethnic behaviours, affirmation and belonging, and achievement of a sense of oneself as part of an ethnic group, were significantly positively correlated with participants' psychological well‐being. Findings revealed also that the ego identity statuses Achievement and Moratorium were associated with higher levels of psychological well‐being, while the statuses Foreclosure and Diffusion were associated with lower levels of well‐being. Arab and European ethnic identities and ego identity were found to be formed independently among the participants.     

Contributions of Family Relationship Factors to the Identity Formation Process

This study tested the proposition that family relationship variables would be related in predictable ways to ego identity status. The authors administered measures of parental attachment, psychological separation, and ego identity status to 174 students from a large northeastern state university. The results indicated that women who experience greater parental attitudinal dependence and attachment and a modest degree of conflictual independence from mother tend to evidence more identity foreclosure and identity achievement and less diffusion. In addition, women who experience some degree of attachment to mother and attitudinal independence from mother are most likely to avoid diffusion, foreclosure, and moratorium. Men who experience parental attitudinal independence are likely to be in the diffusion or moratorium statuses and not in the identity-achieved and foreclosure statuses.     

Linking academic social environments, ego-identity formation, ego virtues, and academic success

This study used Structural Equation Modeling to test an Eriksonian conceptual model linking academic social environments (relationships with faculty and fellow students), ego-identity formation, ego virtues, and academic success. Participants included 765 first-year students at a university in southern Ontario, Canada. Results indicated that supportive relationships with faculty was directly related to higher average grades and perceived academic ability, whereas positive relationships with fellow students was indirectly related to academic success through ego virtues. Positive ego-identity formation (identity achievement) was also indirectly related to academic success through ego virtues.     

Compliance and personality: the vulnerability of the unstable introvert

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship of compliance with Eysenck's three personality dimensions: psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism. Three groups of participants (prison inmates, college students, and university students) completed the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). As predicted, compliance correlated positively with neuroticism and negatively with extraversion in all groups, whereas for psychoticism the correlation was positive among the prison inmates, negative for college students, and non‐significant for university students. A quadrant analysis according to Eysenck's original two‐dimensional framework (neuroticism–stability and introversion–extraversion) showed that compliance was highest among unstable introverts and lowest among stable extraverts. The findings are discussed in relation to recent work on person‐type approaches. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the Relationships Between Racial/Cultural Identity and Ego Identity Among African Americans and Mexican Americans

Relationships between collective identity and ego identity were examined among 299 African American and Mexican American university students. Participants completed scales measuring racial or cultural identity and ego identity. Regression analyses indicated that ego identity was significantly related to racial identity for African Americans and cultural identity for Mexican Americans.     

When is individual mobility costly? The role of economic and social identity factors

Two studies considered when the individual mobility strategy of attending university has psychological costs in terms of poor adjustment to university life. Study 1, (N = 74) examined both economic considerations affecting university choice and identity‐related factors among open day attendees. Expected identification as a university student and preparedness for university life was affected by economic factors (economic benefit of university attendance and status of the considered universities) but also negatively related to perceived incompatibility with one's social background. These findings were replicated in a longitudinal study in which students' perceptions were assessed before entering university (T1), after being at university for two months (T2) and again after being at university for 8 months (T3; N = 109). Social class (T1) predicted perceived incompatibility but not economic factors. In addition, economic factors and incompatibility predicted group identification (T2) but only perceived incompatibility predicted longer‐term identification (T3). Belief that university education serves as a successful individual mobility strategy (T3) was indirectly negatively affected by initial incompatibility (T1), but positively with perceiving economic benefits of a university degree (T1). Implications for the (economic) benefits versus (identity) costs of individual mobility strategies are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural identity dynamics: Capturing changes in cultural identities over time and their intraindividual organization

Important life transitions – such as migration – have the potential to enrich one's sense of self, but they are also demanding and challenging. The current research investigates how cultural identities change and become configured over time among newly arrived international students and the social factors that predict these longitudinal changes. A four‐wave longitudinal study was conducted during international students' first year in their new country (N = 278). Multivariate hierarchical linear modeling analyses allowed us to unpack both baseline (between‐person) and intraindividual change (within‐person) effects. Whereas increased psychological need satisfaction via both the new and one's heritage cultural group predicted increased identity integration, greater discrimination (i.e., both at baseline and an increase over time) predicted increased compartmentalization and the predominance (categorization) of one identity over the others. Results are discussed in light of novel theoretical developments in the acculturation and identity change literatures.     

In‐group and role identity influences on the initiation and maintenance of students' voluntary attendance at peer study sessions for statistics

Background. Although class attendance is linked to academic performance, questions remain about what determines students' decisions to attend or miss class. Aims. In addition to the constructs of a common decision‐making model, the theory of planned behaviour, the present study examined the influence of student role identity and university student (in‐group) identification for predicting both the initiation and maintenance of students' attendance at voluntary peer‐assisted study sessions in a statistics subject. Sample. University students enrolled in a statistics subject were invited to complete a questionnaire at two time points across the academic semester. A total of 79 university students completed questionnaires at the first data collection point, with 46 students completing the questionnaire at the second data collection point. Method. Twice during the semester, students' attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, student role identity, in‐group identification, and intention to attend study sessions were assessed via on‐line questionnaires. Objective measures of class attendance records for each half‐semester (or ‘term’) were obtained. Results. Across both terms, students' attitudes predicted their attendance intentions, with intentions predicting class attendance. Earlier in the semester, in addition to perceived behavioural control, both student role identity and in‐group identification predicted students' attendance intentions, with only role identity influencing intentions later in the semester. Conclusions. These findings highlight the possible chronology that different identity influences have in determining students' initial and maintained attendance at voluntary sessions designed to facilitate their learning.     

Self‐regulation and well‐being: The influence of identity and motives

The relationship between self‐regulatory capacities and self‐esteem as well as well‐being is examined by a mediation model that views self‐regulation as promoting the development of identity achievement which, in turn, is expected to be associated with well‐being. Among secondary school students (Study 1) identity achievement mediated the association between the self‐regulatory capacity of attention control and self‐esteem. In Study 2 (university students), the mediational effect of identity achievement was found for the relationship between the self‐regulatory capacity of action control and well‐being. Explicit motives moderated this association. In sum, a firm identity enhances well‐being by lending a sense of continuity to one's life. However, explicit motives have a substitution effect by giving direction to life when lacking firm identity commitments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identity Statuses and Event-Focused Narratives at University Starting Point in Italy

The purpose of this study was to explore in greater depth the identity formation processes in Italian university students starting from previous studies that have provided support for a “postponed Identity”. Given the particular socio-economic difficulties of the Italian context, especially occupational uncertainty, this study assumes that the years of university for Italian students are rather like a time of standby, a period when students are allowed to remain in moratorium (institutionalized) or diffusion statuses and disengage from tasks related to personal and professional identity consolidation. For this purpose, the study focuses initially on the person-centred approach by measuring identity statuses in students attending the first 2 years of university and in students attending the fourth and fifth years of university. Subsequently, it focuses on the first 2 years of university through an event-focused approach, exploring narrative accounts of memorable daily life events perceived as important for identity construction, and to deepen our understanding of the subjective dimension of personal changes. Based on five identity dimensions, the cluster analysis indicated that six identity statuses could be extracted for both students groups: achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, diffused diffusion, carefree diffusion and undifferentiated. Each of these clusters revealed a distinct profile in terms of narrative universes of meaning. The study explored associations between narratives, reflecting a particular focus on the identity content and identity statuses. Suggestions for future research and limitations are discussed.     

Accessing the multitude within: A psychoanalytic perspective on the transformation of masculinity at mid‐life1

This paper reflects upon the essential components of male identity that commonly are reworked in middle age. The author argues that healthy masculine gender identity involves an ongoing, plastic process of destabilization and reconstruction at various pivotal developmental stages, particularly during middle adulthood. In essence, a man's mature transformation of his sense of masculinity results when finite concepts of gender identity are superseded by an awareness of the complexity of one's multiple, early and diverse gender identifications. A clinical case provides insight into how psychoanalytic treatment can contribute to a new experience of masculinity. The case illustrates how a maturing man, meeting an altered sense of identity in mid‐life, relies less on gender splitting and more on reuniting previously antithetical intrapsychic elements. Why this more pluralistic, polythreaded masculinity frequently must wait until mid‐life is further clarified. Specific importance is attached to the early development of male gender identity as it is founded on the boy's unique struggles in separating from his mother. The foundation for male gender identity formation is reconsidered as the author questions the ‘dis‐identification’ model while explicating how the boy's striving for narcissistic completion shapes the gendered masculine ego ideal. Classically termed ‘phallicism’ is understood both to facilitate and obstruct a man's adult development, while the concept of ‘genitality’ is augmented by the postclassical notion of ‘interiority’. At mid‐life, ‘phallic’ ego ideals (resting on omnipotence, desires for narcissistic completion and gender splitting) are transformed into more realistic, ‘genital’ ego ideals (synthesizing autonomy and connection). The achievement of a mature, less sharply gendered ‘masculine’ ego ideal (revitalizing the foreclosed dimensions of both the early maternal and paternal imagos) occurs as the balance of forces shifts in the direction of true genitality rather than defensive phallicism.     

Ego Identity,Ethnic Identity,and the Psychosocial Well-Being of Ethnic Minority and Majority College Students

Although empirical studies have linked a consolidated ego identity to positive psychosocial outcomes for White middle-class adolescents, there is little research documenting this relationship for ethnic minority youth. This study investigated the relationships among ego identity, ethnic identity, and psychosocial functioning, and compared these relationships for ethnic minority and majority college students. The findings revealed that students with an achieved ego identity status had a more positive sense of ethnic identity than did students with a diffused ego identity. Findings also revealed that ethnic minority students reported stronger ethnic identification than did White students and that a stronger sense of ethnic identity was associated with more positive psychosocial outcomes among ethnic minority students, but not among White students. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Testing the bi‐dimensional effects of attitudes on behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour

Attitudes are typically treated as unidimensional predictors of both behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour. On the basis of previous research showing that attitudes comprise two independent, positive and negative dimensions, we hypothesized that attitudes would be bi‐dimensional predictors of both behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour. We focused on health‐risk behaviours. We therefore also hypothesized that the positive dimension of attitude (evaluations of positive behavioural outcomes) would better predict both behavioural intentions and subsequent behaviour than would the negative dimension, consistent with the positivity bias/offset principle. In Study 1 (cross sectional design), N = 109 university students completed questionnaire measures of their intentions to binge‐drink and the positive and negative dimensions of attitude. Consistent with the hypotheses, both attitude dimensions independently predicted behavioural intentions and the positive dimension was a significantly better predictor than was the negative dimension. The same pattern of findings emerged in Study 2 (cross sectional design; N = 186 university students) when we predicted intentions to binge‐drink, smoke and consume a high‐fat diet. Similarly, in Study 3 (prospective design; N = 1,232 speed limit offenders), both the positive and negative dimensions of attitude predicted subsequent (6‐month post‐baseline) speeding behaviour on two different road types and the positive dimension was the better predictor. The implications for understanding the motivation of behaviour and the development of behaviour‐change interventions are discussed.     

Matters of conscience and conscientiousness: the place of ego development in the Five-factor model

The Five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1990) and Loevinger's (1994) theory of ego development are two active research traditions that are often construed as incompatible approaches to the study of personality. For example, each theory proposes a different view of the concept of conscientiousness. Loevinger argued that FFM conscientiousness, which emphasizes attributes such as order, self-discipline, and achievement striving, lacks a moral component and is more similar to the conformist stage in her theory. To investigate these claims, we administered the Revised NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) to 120 university students on 2 separate occasions. Together, the five traits of the FFM significantly predicted item sum scores from the WUSCT (multiple R = .54). Unique linear relationships of Openness to Experience and Agreeableness with ego level demonstrated that the two theories proposed similar constructs. We argue that these two FFM dimensions have conceptual relevance to the cognitive and interpersonal aspects of the ego development construct. We draw further connections between these FFM dimensions, ego development, and human values.     

The Moderating Role of Ethnic Identity and Social Support on Relations Between Well‐Being and Academic Performance1

The role of social support and ethnic identity in moderating the effects of factors that may emanate from stereotype threat on academic performance was examined. Depressive and anxiety symptoms of ethnic minority (n = 65) and Euro‐Caucasian students (n = 198) were tracked through their first year of university. Although students' symptoms did not differ at the outset of the year, higher symptoms uniquely evident among ethnic minority students at midyear were associated with poorer final grades, and reduced well‐being was sustained at the end of the year. Social support from friends and fewer unsupportive interactions predicted greater success among ethnic minority students. Although both groups benefited from academic support, such support was perceived as less available to minority students.