Research Centre Adolescent Development, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Youth Adolesc. 2010 Feb;39(2):150-62. doi: 10.1007/s10964-009-9401-4. Epub 2009 Feb 27.
The aim of this five-wave longitudinal study of 923 early to middle adolescents (50.7% boys; 49.3% girls) and 390 middle to late adolescents (43.3% boys and 56.7% girls) is to provide a comprehensive view on change and stability in identity formation from ages 12 to 20. Several types of change and stability (i.e., mean-level change, rank-order stability, and profile similarity) were assessed for three dimensions of identity formation (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration), using adolescent self-report questionnaires. Results revealed changes in identity dimensions towards maturity, indicated by a decreasing tendency for reconsideration, increasingly more in-depth exploration, and increasingly more stable identity dimension profiles. Mean levels of commitment remained stable, and rank-order stability of commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration did not change with age. Overall, girls were more mature with regard to identity formation in early adolescence, but boys had caught up with them by late adolescence. Taken together, our findings indicate that adolescent identity formation is guided by progressive changes in the way adolescents deal with commitments, rather than by changes in the commitments themselves.
本项历时五波的纵向研究调查了 923 名青少年早期至中期（50.7%为男生；49.3%为女生）和 390 名青少年中期至后期（43.3%为男生；56.7%为女生），旨在全面探讨青少年从 12 岁至 20 岁期间身份认同的形成过程中的变化与稳定性。采用青少年自陈式问卷，评估了身份认同形成的三个维度（承诺、深入探索和重新考虑）的几种变化和稳定性类型（即平均水平变化、等级稳定性和特征相似性）。结果表明，身份维度朝着成熟的方向变化，重新考虑的趋势减少，深入探索的程度增加，身份维度特征的稳定性增加。承诺的平均水平保持稳定，承诺、深入探索和重新考虑的等级稳定性并未随年龄而变化。总的来说，在青少年早期，女孩在身份认同形成方面更为成熟，但到了青少年后期，男孩已经迎头赶上。综上所述，研究结果表明，青少年身份认同的形成是由青少年处理承诺的方式的渐进变化所引导，而不是由承诺本身的变化所驱动。
