Abstract
Ego identity development in the areas of occupational choice, religion, and political ideology was studied using Marcia's categorization system. The results indicated a significant increase in the frequency of the identity achiever status for occupational choice and corresponding decreases in the frequency of the moratorium and identity diffusion statuses. A significant decrease in the frequency of foreclosures on religion was also found. In those instances where students underwent an identity crisis, the probability of resolving it successfully was very high. High scores on the Cultural Sophistication scale of the College Student Questionnaire-Part 1 were found to be associated with presence in the identity achievement status. For students not in the achiever status as freshmen, an interest in various literary and art forms was predictive of becoming an achiever while in college.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Campbell, D. T., and Stanley, J. C. (1963).Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research, Rand McNally, Chicago.
Constantinople, A. (1969). An Eriksonian measure of personality development in college students.Dev. Psychol. 1: 357–372.
Dignan, M. H. (1965). Ego identity and maternal identification.J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 1: 476–483.
Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle.Psychol. Issues 1: 1–171.
Erikson, E. H. (1968).Identity: Youth and Crisis, Norton, New York.
Feldman, K. A., and Newcomb, J. M. (1969).The Impact of College on Students, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Fry, P. S. (1974). Developmental changes in identity status of university students from rural and urban backgrounds.J. College Student Personnel 15: 183–190.
Joyce, M. U. (1971). An empirical investigation of Erikson's developmental crises of ego identity, intimacy, and generativity in religious women.Diss. Abst. 31: 3341.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status.J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 3: 551–558.
Peterson, R. E. (1965).Technical Manual: College Student Questionnaires, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N. J.
Siegel, S. (1956).Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Waterman, A. S., and Waterman, C. K. (1971). A longitudinal study of changes in ego identity status during the freshman year at college.Dev. Psychol. 5: 167–173.
Waterman, A. S., and Waterman, C. K. (1972). The relationship between freshman ego identity status and subsequent academic behavior: A test of the predictive validity of Marcia's categorization system for identity status.Dev. Psychol. 6: 179.
Waterman, A. S., Geary, P. S., and Waterman, C. K. (1974). A longitudinal study of changes in ego identity status from the freshman to the senior year at college.Dev. Psychol. 10: 387–392.
Waterman, A. S., Kohutis, E., and Pulone, J. (1976). The role of poetry writing in ego identity formation. Manuscript in preparation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received his Ph.D. from SUNY/Buffalo. Recent research has been mainly concerned with the development of ego identity and with techniques for resolving identity crises.
Received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. Recent research has been mainly concerned with personality moderators of human judgment.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Waterman, A.S., Goldman, J.A. A longitudinal study of ego identity development at a liberal arts college. J Youth Adolescence 5, 361–369 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01577249
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01577249