Introduction
Erikson’s Views on Identity Formation
Narrative Identity
Self-event connections
Agency
Dual-Cycle Model of Identity Formation
Relation of dual-cycle processes to self-event connections
Relation of dual-cycle processes to agency
Current Study
Study 1
Method
Participants and procedure
Example turning point narrative | Self-event connection score | Agency score |
---|---|---|
“I was told that I had to go to a class with a lower educational level, because my grades were too bad. I was very annoyed by this. I realized that school has a big influence on what I can do with my life in the future. I became more serious at school and notice that therefore I have better grades now.” | 1 | 4 |
“My grandmother passed away. I heard it when I came home from school. I felt sad because my grandfather and I had a good relationship. It changed me in the sense that I know that everyone will die at some point and that I also should expect this a little. Every time when people talk about cancer, I get tears in my eyes. Since then I know that I want to become an oncologist.” | 1 | 2 |
“My parents were divorced and years later my father got a new girlfriend in another city and we were going to live there. At first I was excited but as we were getting closer to the move it got harder and harder to leave. When I finally moved I went through a hard time and I still find it equally difficult. I see this as a turning point because this is very difficult for me.” | 0 | 0 |
Measures
Narrative coding
Strategy of analysis
Results
Descriptive Statistics
Dependent variables: | Commitment making | Identification with commitment | Exploration in breadth | Exploration in depth | Ruminative exploration | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Descriptive statistics M (SD) | 3.39 (0.94) | 3.58 (0.72) | 3.38 (0.73) | 3.20 (0.73) | 2.52 (0.79) | |||||||||||||||
Independent variable | b | p | SE | β | b | p | SE | β | b | p | SE | β | b | p | SE | β | b | p | SE | β |
Self-event connections | 0.13 | 0.008 | 0.05 | 0.07 | 0.12 | 0.001 | 0.04 | 0.08 | 0.19 | <0.001 | 0.04 | 0.13 | 0.14 | <0.001 | 0.04 | 0.09 | 0.03 | 0.388 | 0.04 | 0.02 |
Agency | 0.06 | 0.015 | 0.03 | 0.06 | 0.08 | <0.001 | 0.02 | 0.11 | 0.04 | 0.082 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.06 | 0.005 | 0.02 | 0.07 | −0.04 | 0.056 | 0.02 | −0.05 |
Associations Between Dual-Cycle Processes and Narrative Characteristics
Sensitivity Analyses
Summary of Findings
Study 2
The Current Study
Method
Participants and Procedure
Measures
Strategy of Analysis
Results
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive Statistics | Growth factors | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
T1 | T2 | T3 | Intercept | Slope | |||
M (SD) | M (SD) | M (SD) | M | σ2 | M | σ2 | |
Commitment making | 3.48 (0.89) | 3.45 (1.00) | 3.50 (0.97) | 3.47*** | 0.57*** | 0.01 | 0.15*** |
Identification with commitment | 3.65 (0.73) | 3.62 (0.73) | 3.56 (0.76) | 3.65*** | 0.35*** | −0.04 | 0.11*** |
Exploration in breadth | 3.42 (0.76) | 3.64 (0.72) | 3.61 (0.68) | 3.44*** | 0.30*** | 0.10*** | 0.04** |
Exploration in depth | 3.27 (0.69) | 3.41 (0.73) | 3.46 (0.70) | 3.27*** | 0.23*** | 0.10*** | 0.08*** |
Ruminative exploration | 2.53 (0.77) | 2.71 (0.80) | 2.81 (0.93) | 2.53*** | 0.34*** | 0.15*** | 0.08*** |