The Relation Between Self-Continuity and Measures of Identity

Conceptualizations of Erikson's (1968) fifth psychosocial stage, identity formation, have been criticized for failing to be inclusive of an individual's sense of self-continuity. However, recent research has shown that identity commitment is significantly correlated to measures of continuity. This study further examined the relation among measures of identity, including identity commitment and continuity. The results suggest that many of the current measures of identity do indeed share a significant amount of variance with continuity. The specific results concerning identity commitment and continuity add to the growing evidence that these constructs are reliably related.