Abstract
This study examines the relation between the development of ego identity by young adulthood and the establishment and maintenance of stable and enduring intimate interpersonal relationships by midlife. This relation was investigated further in order to discover how it might differ between men and women. The Identity Scale was first cross-validated with other personality measures before being related to subsequent intimacy patterns. The achievement of ego identity was found to be important for the establishment (for men) and stability (for women) of marital relationships. Additional sex differences in happiness and spheres of life satisfaction were also explored. These differences suggest differing developmental courses for young men and women as they establish themselves in the adult world.
Copyright © 1985 by the American Psychological Association.
Reproduced with permission from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985, Vol.49, No 5, 1316–1322.
This study was made possible by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Jacob W. Getzels, Department of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Cattell, R. E., & Stice, G. P. (1962). Handbook for the sixteen personality factors questionnaire. Champaign: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing.
Douvan, E, & Adelson, J. (1966). The adolescent experience. New York: Wiley.
Erikson, E. H, (1959). Identity and the life cycle [Monograph]. Psychological issues, 1, 1–171.
Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.).New York: Norton.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity; Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
Getzels, J. W., & Csikszentmihatyi, M. (1976). The creative vision: A longitudinal study of problem finding in art. New York: Wiley.
Getzels, J. W., & Walsh, J. J. (1958). The method of paired direct and projective questionnaires in the study of attitude structure and socialization. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 72(1), 1–26.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge:Harvard University Press.
Henry, W., & Sims, J. (1970, September). Actors search for a self. Transaction, pp. 3–6.
Hess, R., Henry, W., & Sims, J. (1968). The identity scale. Unpublished manuscript, University of Chicago, Committee on Human Development.
Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551–558.
Marcia, J. E, & Friedman, M. L. (1970). Ego identity status in college women. Journal of Personality, 38, 249–263.
Matteson, D. R. (1975). Adolescence today: Sex roles and the search for identity. Homewood: Dorsey Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kahn, S., Zimmerman, G., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Getzels, J.W. (2014). Relations Between Identity in Young Adulthood and Intimacy at Midlife. In: Applications of Flow in Human Development and Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9094-9_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9094-9_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9093-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9094-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)