Waterman Alan S, Schwartz Seth J, Hardy Sam A, Kim Su Yeong, Lee Richard M, Armenta Brian E, Whitbourne Susan Krauss, Zamboanga Byron L, Brown Elissa J, Williams Michelle K, Agocha V Bede
The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, USA.
University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
Emerg Adulthood. 2013 Sep 14;1(3):163-174. doi: 10.1177/2167696813484004. Epub 2013 Apr 15.
Research indicates making identity commitments on the part of emerging adults is associated with a wide range of psychosocial benefits. Data from a large research collaborative were used to evaluate hypotheses drawn from eudaimonic identity theory that the benefits of commitment are attributable to the quality of the commitments held. Findings from a study with 9,650 students attending 30 colleges and universities replicated previous research indicating the benefits of identity commitments with respect to subjective well-being, psychological well-being, self-esteem, an internal locus of control; and reduced likelihood of symptoms of general anxiety, social anxiety, and depression. However, when a measure of the quality of identity commitments was added to the analyses, results indicated that commitment quality accounted almost entirely for the associations of identity commitments with psychosocial functioning. Identity commitments of low quality were found to be associated with psychological costs rather than benefits. Implications for helping emerging adults distinguish better identity choices are discussed.
研究表明，新兴成年人做出身份认同承诺会带来广泛的心理社会效益。来自一个大型研究合作项目的数据被用于评估从幸福主义身份理论得出的假设，即承诺的益处归因于所持有承诺的质量。一项对30所学院和大学的9650名学生进行的研究结果重复了先前的研究，表明身份认同承诺在主观幸福感、心理健康、自尊、内控点方面具有益处；并且降低了出现一般焦虑、社交焦虑和抑郁症状的可能性。然而，当在分析中加入身份认同承诺质量的测量指标时，结果表明承诺质量几乎完全解释了身份认同承诺与心理社会功能之间的关联。研究发现，低质量的身份认同承诺与心理成本而非益处相关。文中还讨论了帮助新兴成年人更好地辨别身份选择的意义。
