Personal skills for optimal identity development: A person-centered approach in Italian late-adolescents.

The present study examined the association between identity statuses and some competences such as creativity, personal growth initiative and agency, which can actually be considered as resources for the development of optimal identity in our de-standardized society (personal skills for optimal identity development, PSID). Participants were 250 adolescents (118 males and 132 females) attending the last two years of various high schools in Italy. We used five self-report measures of identity development, agency, creativity, and personal growth initiative, and specific psychosocial correlates (anxiety, depression and well-being) to examine the association between identity, PSID and both well- and ill-being. Based on a person- centered approach, five typologies were obtained in order to describe the differentiated interplay between identity and PSID. Our findings suggested that late adolescents showing medium/high levels of PSID seem to be more advanced in their identity definition; as a result, they show positive psycho-social functioning, supporting the hypothesis that PSID can allow the acquisition of optimal identity. Suggestions for developing interventions to foster personal resources in this age group are discussed.

Comparison of Self-Differentiation and Identity Statuses in Twins and Nontwins

Formation of identity and differentiation is crucial in the development process of adolescents and young people. Despite many studies on identity status and self-differentiation in adolescence and early adulthood stages, this issue has been less examined among twins. This study was conducted to compare self-differentiation and identity statuses in twins and nontwins. The sample of the study consisted of 128 identical twins, 176 nonidentical twins and 170 nontwins aged from 13 to 30 years and living in Mashhad in Iran, who completed the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status and Self-Differentiation questionnaires. The results showed that the self-differentiation of identical and nonidentical twins was significantly higher than nontwins. The results also showed that level of Foreclosure identity, Moratorium identity and Achieved identity was similar among identical twins, nonidentical twins and nontwins, but significantly different in terms of Diffusion identity. Further, the results showed that twins younger than 18 years had scores higher than nontwins and twins over 18 years in terms of Diffusion identity. Findings revealed that females were significantly lower than males for Moratorium identity. The adolescence period and co-twins may be the reason for the high levels of Diffusion identity and self-differentiation. Also, it seems that identity development and differentiation are related to emotional and cognitive development.

The Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS)

The current study proposed the adaptation of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS) to the religious domain as an instrument to measure both individuals’ religious identity formation processes (when a variable-centered approach is adopted) and religious identity statuses (when a person-centered approach is adopted). The scale has been tested on a sample of 727 Italian participants aged 13–65 years, by collecting evidence of score structure, convergent, and criterion-related validity. Regarding the score structure validity, we confirmed that religious identity formation consists of three processes (commitment, in-depth exploration, reconsideration of commitment) and that, by using these scores, individuals can be placed into five different religious identity clusters (achievement, diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, searching moratorium). As to the convergent and criterion-related validity, we tested the relationship that the three factors (religious identity formation processes) and the five clusters (religious identity statuses) have with religiousness and subjective well-being, respectively. Results indicate that the instrument is a promising tool to measure religious identity. Future studies should test this scale in other countries and with people from diverse religious traditions.

The Transforming, Transformative Self

The developmental path of the transformative self is not straightforward, easy, or uniform. This chapter charts how the transformative self itself develops over time, from the theoretical perspectives of Eriksonian identity development and eudaimonic growth. The chapter provides an overview of how one’s degrees of identity exploration and commitment in a world of others shape one’s development over time. High versus low degrees of exploration and commitment yield four identity statuses or pathways: searchers, traditionalists, pathmakers, and drifters. This chapter surveys recent research and theoretical adjustments on the Eriksonian ideal, notably regarding non-idealized pathways of development. Excerpts from the bildungsroman genre illustrate the internal and interpersonal conflicts of eudaimonic growth that arise along all four pathways, plus non-ideal developments, from the perspectives of male and female characters, and then in the contexts of relationships, work, and religious views.

Przywiązanie, parentyfikacja i trauma relacyjna a status tożsamości w okresie wyłaniającej się dorosłości

Nowadays, it is young adults, not adolescents, who face the challenge of determining their own identity. This process, compared to previous generations, takes place in qualitatively different conditions. Moreover, the current attributes of an adult have become obsolete. For this reason, making the vision of oneself reality may be associated with various difficulties. The root of the failure to clarify identity is to be found in the original bond with the guardian and in all experiences that disrupt attachment. Among these types of experiences, relational trauma and parentification are worth mentioning. Relational trauma can be said to be when a child experiences repeated neglect in the context of a close relationship. A similar phenomenon is parentification.The aim of the research is to check 1) whether there are significant differences between the identified identity statuses and 2) whether the variables (attachment style, experience of parentification and relational trauma) differentiate the identity status in the period of emergingadulthood. Three identity statuses are distinguished: Identity of anxiety type (N = 23), identity of diffuse type (N = 30) and identity of type achieved (N = 43). Each type differs in terms of both the experiences and the severity of the identity dimensions.