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Identity Development as a Mediating Factor Between Urban Poverty and Behavioral Outcomes for Junior High School Students

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Abstract

This study examines the developmental issue of identity development among 102 eighth graders living in a context of economic hardship. Results show that links between economic deprivation and behavioral outcomes were mediated by identity development for two of three outcomes. Support also was found for the hypothesis that content-specific identity development is more strongly related to behavioral outcomes than global assessments of identity development. Much of the research on youth living in urban poverty has focused on problem behaviors, such as drug use or dropping out of school. Less is known about how normal developmental transitions are resolved. Results are discussed relative to the protective nature of identity development and to theoretical and methodological issues regarding measuring identity development within specific populations.

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De Haan, L.G., MacDermid, S.M. Identity Development as a Mediating Factor Between Urban Poverty and Behavioral Outcomes for Junior High School Students. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 20, 123–148 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022102626175

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