A Quantitative Case Study of Longitudinal Changes in Identity, Intimacy, and Generativity

A quantitative case study of one woman's development was conducted in order to explore psychosocial change in early adulthood. A contentanalytic coding system for identity, intimacy, and generativity themes derived from E. H. Erikson's writing was applied to letters and diaries of the British writer Vera Brittain written when she was 20 to 21 and 30 to 31 years old. Over time, Brittain used more intimacy and generativity themes and fewer identity themes. Even though Brittain used fewer total identity themes in her writing in her early 30s, her use of one identity subcategory—occupational role—increased in frequency, and the way in which she expressed her identity concerns indicated greater certainty about her identity.