Ego identity status, identification, and decision-making style in late adolescents

Measures of identification with same-sex parent and decision-making style were administered to 30 male and 30 female late adolescents who had been classified by Marcia's (1964) criteria as either identity achieved, foreclosed, moratorium, or diffused. As predicted, male and female foreclosed subjects were more impulsive than were those in the other statuses, and male moratorium subjects were more reflective than others. However, female moratoriums were impulsive, and male and female diffused were reflective, findings which contradict theoretical expectation. Similarly, data on identification were mixed; female achieved subjects scored (as predicted) with higher identification than female moratorium or diffused subjects, while diffused males were highly identified with their fathers. One reason offered for the conflicting results is that identity formation is, as some have suggested, a different process for women than it is for men. Therefore, study of both genders with the same measures and hypotheses is not recommended.