School of Applied Psychology and Menzies Health Institute of Queensland, Griffith University, Parklands Drive, Southport, Queensland, 4222, Australia.
J Youth Adolesc. 2019 Apr;48(4):703-716. doi: 10.1007/s10964-018-0924-4. Epub 2018 Sep 24.
The task of identity development, which involves distinguishing who one is, and defining and articulating this to others, is a challenging developmental task for most youth. This is made even more challenging when one considers that there are multiple domains of identity development. In the current study, Australia adolescents (N = 336; aged 12-15 years, 46% male) reported their identity status commitment, exploration and reconsideration across two different domains (education and friendship). Cluster analysis was used to evaluate patterns of identity formation within and across domains, and the internalizing symptoms (low self-worth, emotion dysregulation, depressive and anxiety symptoms) and identity disturbance of clusters of youth with different identity status patterns were compared. Results revealed five clusters of committed explorers, committed non-explorers, committed reconsiders, uninvolved, and friend identifiers. Cluster comparisons revealed that, across self-worth, emotion dysregulation and identity disturbance, adolescents in the friend identifiers cluster, who reported high commitment to friendship identity and lower commitment to educational identity relative to their peers, fared worse than adolescents reporting higher than average commitment across both domains, and those reporting high reconsideration in both domains. These findings suggest that the benefit of identity commitment for emotional adjustment may depend somewhat on the domain under investigation, and that evaluating the junction and divergence of different identity domains might identify additional adolescents who are experiencing symptoms of maladjustment.
身份发展的任务，包括区分自己是谁，并向他人定义和表达这一点，对大多数年轻人来说都是一项具有挑战性的发展任务。当考虑到有多个身份发展领域时，情况就更加复杂了。在本研究中，澳大利亚青少年（N=336；年龄 12-15 岁，46%为男性）报告了他们在两个不同领域（教育和友谊）的身份状态承诺、探索和重新考虑。聚类分析用于评估个体在不同领域内和领域间的身份形成模式，并比较具有不同身份状态模式的群体的内化症状（低自我价值感、情绪失调、抑郁和焦虑症状）和身份困扰。结果显示了五个身份承诺探索者、身份承诺非探索者、身份承诺重新考虑者、不参与和朋友认同者的聚类。聚类比较显示，在自我价值感、情绪失调和身份困扰方面，与同龄人相比，报告对友谊身份高度承诺但对教育身份承诺较低的朋友认同者群体的青少年，比那些在两个领域都报告高于平均承诺的青少年，以及那些在两个领域都报告高度重新考虑的青少年，情况更糟。这些发现表明，身份承诺对情绪调整的益处可能在某种程度上取决于所研究的领域，并且评估不同身份领域的交点和分歧可能会识别出更多经历适应不良症状的青少年。
