Stages of identity development and problem drinking in college women.

Deviation from age-appropriate identity-developmental stage and problem drinking in 75 undergraduate women was investigated. A quantity/frequency scale assessed problem drinking. Two measures of identity, one projective and one observational, were used. May's Deprivation/Enhancement fantasy pattern measure assessed sexual identity. The College Women's Assertion Sample assessed the cognitive-style component of identity. The results supported the hypotheses that younger (freshman/sophomore) women deviating from their age-appropriate identity stage of dedifferentiation, and older (junior/senior) women deviating from their age-appropriate stage of identity integration, were significantly more likely to experience drinking problems than were women who had entered their age-appropriate identity stages. The findings support psychodynamic theories of identity development in late adolescence, and suggest that problem-drinking women in different age/ developmental stages of identity drink for different reasons and should be treated differently.