The effects of work and relational mental incongruity on identity formation and well-being

By combining concepts of Tazelaar's mental incongruity theory (1983) and Marcia's identity model (1993) we tried to uncover some theoretical mechanisms that may underlie progressive developmental trends in identity status. Mental incongruity is what people experience when there is a discrepancy between how they think a situation should be (the standard) and how they experience the actual situation or their own behaviour (the cognition). In both the work and relational domain, the influence of adolescents' standards and mental incongruity on the development of their identity was studied. By means of structural equation modelling, we tested hypotheses on a representative sample of Dutch working adolescents, aged 16 to 24 (n=706). As expected, a higher standard in the relational or work domain was related to more exploration and commitment in that domain - and thus to a more developed identity. Work and relational identity were positively related to well-being. Furthermore, positive relations were found between a standard and the mental incongruity in a domain. Finally, mental incongruities were negatively related to identity and only relational incongruity was negatively related to well-being.