Identity statuses in young adult employees: Prospective relations with work engagement and burnout☆

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Abstract

The importance of identity statuses for individuals' well-being and psychosocial functioning has been demonstrated abundantly in high school and college samples. The present longitudinal study complemented this research line by (a) focusing on identity clusters or statuses in a sample of 300 working young adults (21–40 years of age), and (b) investigating the concurrent and prospective implications of these identity statuses for work engagement and burnout. Based on a recently developed dimensional model of personal identity formation, five distinct statuses were obtained, largely replicating previous research on identity clusters. These five statuses were meaningfully differentiated on the basis of their associations with the outcome measures, with the identity achievement status showing the most optimal profile (low burnout, high engagement) and the diffused diffusion status the least adjusted profile across time. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Section snippets

Individual Differences in Identity Formation: Identity Statuses

The identity status paradigm (Marcia, 1966) was the first neo-Eriksonian identity model to generate a significant research literature. By targeting the dimensions of exploration (consideration of multiple identity alternatives) and commitment (making a choice to adhere to one or more of the alternatives considered), Marcia identified four identity types or statuses. Each identity status represents a combination of levels (present vs. absent) of exploration and commitment. Achievement and

Work Engagement and Burnout

Empirically derived identity statuses have been validated using a host of correlates, such as self-esteem, anxiety, depression, risk behavior, and the Eriksonian constructs of identity synthesis and confusion (Luyckx, Schwartz, Berzonsky, et al., 2008, Schwartz et al., 2010). The importance of such identity statuses for the work context remains to be investigated. We hypothesize that how people make and evaluate identity-related choices with respect to their lives and future (or fail to do so

Study Objectives

The present study explored three research objectives in a sample of 21–40 year old employees. Partially based on theorizing and previous identity research, some hypotheses (e.g., on the link between identity statuses and job outcomes) can be forwarded.

Objective 1: Empirically derived identity statuses. Previous research sampling high school and college students consistently replicated six identity statuses through cluster analysis (Luyckx, Schwartz, Berzonsky, et al., 2008, Luyckx, Schwartz,

Participants and Procedure

A total of 318 Dutch-speaking Belgian individuals (74% women; 97% Caucasian) participated in an online survey. Mean age was 29.10 year (SD = 4.86; range 21–40 years). For the present analyses, 18 participants were excluded because they were unemployed. Of the remaining 300 participants, 53% reported being married or were living together with their partner (with an additional 11% having a romantic partner without living together), and 30% reported having children. A total of 94% had received some

Preliminary Mean-Level and Correlational Analyses

With respect to work outcomes and depressive symptoms, repeated measures analyses of variance were used to investigate possible mean-level changes across time, as displayed in Table 1. Limited mean-level changes were observed for exhaustion, cynicism, and vigor, with the former two variables increasing across time and the latter variable decreasing across time. With respect to rank-order stability, stability coefficients for T1–2 ranged between .47 and .65 and for T2–3 between .48 and .64 (all p

Discussion

The present study was the first to (a) empirically derive identity statuses in young adult employees, (b) examine whether these statuses differed on various demographic and job characteristics, and (c) relate the obtained statuses to indicators of burnout and engagement, both concurrently and prospectively over a 1-year period. Five meaningful identity statuses were obtained. With respect to job demands and resources, there were only limited differences among the statuses. However, with respect

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    ☆

    The first and the second author are Postdoctoral Researchers at the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO).

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