Poster #220 - Who Am I? Changes in Identity Development during College

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

The first year of college holds many social, emotional, and academic changes, and provides emerging adults with time to explore their beliefs and commit to an identity (Kunnen et al., 2008). Identity exploration involves testing beliefs and exploring alternate identities, while commitment is selecting an identity that best fits one’s views (Olés, 2015; Kunnen et al., 2008). However, the process of identity development may occur at different rates for different domains of identity. This investigation explored changes in identity during emerging adulthood. It was hypothesized that identity development would demonstrate significant instability across the first year of college. Students who have neither explored nor committed to an identity prior to entering college would be most likely to change identity status. However, it was also expected that there would be differences in the amount of stability across identity domains. Lastly, consistent with previous research, identity development was expected to be associated with well-being (Olés, 2015), thus emerging adults who have committed to an identity may have the highest well-being. A total of 161 students (57% female) were surveyed during the first 8 weeks of the Fall semester and the last 12 weeks of the Spring semester during their first year of college. The Ego Identity Process Questionnaire (Balistreri et al., 1995) was used to assess identity development in eight domains (e.g., career, politics, religion, friendship, family) in the Fall and Spring. For each domain, students reported on commitment and exploration, and then a median split was used to establish identity status. This lead to four groups for each domain: diffusion (low exploration-low commitment), foreclosure (low exploration-high commitment), moratorium (high exploration-low commitment), achievement (high exploration-high commitment, see Table 1). The Satisfaction with Life Questionnaire (Diener et al., 1985) was used to assess Spring well-being. Chi square tests were computed to identify the likelihood of remaining in the same identity status in Fall and Spring within each domain. Across domains, 44% of individuals remained in the same status, demonstrating some stability but also substantial change in identity status. The foreclosure and moratorium groups were the most stable, with six of eight domains demonstrating significant stability for each group (foreclosure: 19-86% of individuals in status were stable; moratorium: 30-65% of individuals were stable, see Table 2). However, there was significant variation in stability across domains. Career and family demonstrated the most change, with only 35% of participants remaining in the same status, while politics demonstrated the most stability (57% of participants remaining in the same status, Table 2). Finally, students who were in foreclosure and achievement in Fall had greater satisfaction with life in Spring, compared to students in moratorium. Unexpectedly, there was a substantial amount of stability within identity status, particularly for foreclosure and moratorium. However, students experienced least stability in domains that may be directly affected by the college transition. Nonetheless, students who had commited to an identity status were more satisfied with life than those currently exploring options. Students may benefit from college activities that support identity development.

Authors

• David A Shears, University of Virginia's College at Wise
  Presenting Author

• Zoe Millard, UVa-Wise
  Non-Presenting Author

• Madelynn Shell, UVa-Wise
  Non-Presenting Author