Family correlates of female adolescents' ego-identity development

Past research has suggested that parents may contribute to the positive development of their daughter's identity formation. Theoretical notions from both social learning and symbolic interaction indicate that parents can either facilitate or hinder positive growth. Therefore, to test the predictions that (a) more mature (moratorium and achieved) identity status parents would have daughters with more mature identities, and (b) that both positive and negative parenting styles can be detected to differentiate between less (diffused and foreclosed) and more mature identity status youths, 45 families (145 subjects) were assessed on parent-child relations and identity status formation. In contrast to much past research, parent-child relations were assessed from both the adolescents' and the parents' perspectives. The findings indicate that parental identity status formation may have an effect on the adolescent's identity formation and that parent-child relations differentiate between less and more mature female adolescent identities.