Unpacking Commitment and Exploration: Preliminary Validation of an Integrative Model of Late Adolescent Identity Formation

• NCJ Number: 214878
• Journal: Journal of Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 361-378
• Author(s): Koen Luyckx; Lue Goossens; Bart Soenens; Wim Beyers
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined identity formation in a sample of 565 late-adolescents, using a model of identity formation that consisted of commitment-making, identification with commitment, exploration in depth, and exploration in breadth.

Abstract

The study found that commitment-making (setting goals and organizing behaviors and activities to meet needs and pursue interests) was significantly related to family characteristics. Identification with commitment (the strength of and absorption with one's commitments) and both exploration dimensions (the strength and range of activities related to exploring various commitments) were significantly related to emotional adjustment and family characteristics. Identification with commitment was positively related to positive emotional adjustment and negatively to depressive symptoms; whereas, exploration in breath was positively related to depressive symptoms and substance use. Exploration in depth, on the other hand, was positively related to academic adjustment and negatively to substance use. The authors conclude that the conceptual model they used to measure identity formation is a good fit for measuring identity formation in late adolescence. The model integrates Marcia's two-dimensional model of exploration and commitment and Bosma's model that emphasizes the maintenance of commitments through exploration in depth of these commitments, The sample consisted of 565 freshmen from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences in a large university in Belgium. Their mean age was 18 years and 8 months. All items were measured on a five-point Likert-type scale that ranged from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." Instruments measured commitment-making and exploration in breadth, identification with commitment and exploration in depth, depressive symptoms, social and academic adjustment, substance use, supportive parenting, parent-adolescent conflict, and separation-individuation. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 63 references