Identity confusion and depression in groups of adolescents having psychiatric and physical symptoms

The aim of this study was to investigate the identity status of adolescents having psychiatric and physical symptoms and the relation of depression with identity problems in adolescence. Three groups of university students were given a sociodemographic questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Sense of Identity Assessment Form (SIAF). The first group consisted of 31 students who were seen by the consultant psychiatrist at the Student Health Center of a university in Ankara. The second group included 37 students who applied to the same center with various physical complaints but did not need to be consulted by the psychiatrist. The third group was a group of 50 healthy students at the same university. The analysis revealed that only those with psychiatric complaints had identity confusion and that for the males in this group depressive symptoms are significant predictors of identity confusion.