不同階段青少年之自我認同內容及危機探索之發展差異

The Developmental Differences of Identity Content and Exploration Among Adolescents of Different Stages

Erik Erikson的心理社會發展理論以「自我認同」為青少年期最重要的發展要務。過去之認同研究雖然描述了不同的認同狀態與認同內容的面向，但對於認同的連續性、同一性的概念或是認同的發展差異卻沒有清楚的描述，而且對於認同內容的測量，也沒有反應Erikson認為在達成認同的過程中，青少年所需面對之真實生活課題。本研究之目的有四，一為測量青少年早期、中期、晚期在各種認同內容上之消長與差異。二為瞭解個體在認同形成的各種生活嚐試中實際面臨的困惑與探索，因此加入詢問個體對各種認同內容是否曾探索或困擾過的題項。三為將認同內容的指涉範圍擴大，以反應Erikson認為青少年面臨之社會脈絡與實際生活課題對認同有貢獻的看法。四為加入個體對於認同之「同一感」、「連續感」的評量，稱之為自我認同「確定性」。研究樣本以國中生472名、高中生588名、大學生225名，進行自我認同「重要性」、「確定性」及「發展危機」之評量。以因素分析後發現，除了Cheek（1989）所提出之個人、社會及集體認同三種內容之外，另應增加「形象認同」之認同內容。「形象認同」之構念是以「私我」擁有的屬性為基礎，也呼應Harter（1990a）所謂具體「特質標籤」。在「重要性」之年齡間比較結果發現，國中生及高中生比大學生較重視形象認同及社會認同，大學生則較重視個人認同。在「確定性」之年齡間比較則發現大學生在個人認同、社會認同及形象認同之「確定性」皆顯著高於國中生或高中生。國、高中組於個人與社會認同內容皆無顯著差異，而國中生在形象認同的分數反而高於高中生。本研究發現個人、社會、形象認同之「重要性」與「確定性」，在青少年前、中、後期各有消長，顯示「確定性」為一獨立於「重要性」之自我認同測量向度。

Erik Erikson postulated that identity formation is the most important developmental task during adolescence. Past research has investigated the variety of identity status, and the different domains of identity content. However, they failed to capture Eriksonian concept of the sameness and continuity in identity achievement, neither did they reflect Erikson's emphasis on role experimentation that is essential for the resolution of identity crisis. Based on Erikson's theory, the aims of the present study are fourfold. The first is to describe the vicissitude of different identity content in the different substages during adolescence. The second is to identify the specific identity contents that serve to be the developmental crises puzzled by adolescents of different stages. The third is to enlarge the conceptualization of identity content proposed by Cheek (1989) in order to reflect Eriksonian thinking about role experimentation. The fourth goal of the present study is to add a new measurement, namely, identity firmness, to reflect Erikson's belief that identity formation reflects one's selfcontinuity and sameness in his or her value systems and beliefs. A total of 472 junior high school students, 588 high school students, and 225 college students in Taiwan filled up a 5- point-scale questionnaire to rate on their sense of importance, firmness, and experiences of exploration in various aspects related to the issues of self-identity. Results of factor analyses indicated that, in addition to Personal Identity, Social Identity, and Collective Identity proposed by Cheek (1989), one more aspect of identity content, Image Identity, should be included in understanding the development of self-identity. The construct of Image Identity is based on characteristics of private-self. It also reflects Harter's (1990a) postulation of “trait labels.” Cross age comparisons measuring sense of importance revealed that junior high and high school students are more concerned about social and image identity, whereas college students are more concerned about personal identity. Meantime, college students' degree of sense of firmness is significantly higher than junior high and high school students' on personal, social and image identity. On the other hand, junior high school students' degree of sense of firmness does not differ from that of high school students in personal and social identity; surprisingly, their average score on image identity is even higher than that of high school students. Results of this study indicate that the rating on firmness is a measuring dimension independent from the rating of importance.