Erikson (1950) contends that the physical changes associated with puberty serve as a catalyst for adolescents to question childhood identifications and to consolidate these with current self-conceptions, personal ideologies, interpersonal values, and future aspirations. Erikson describes the adolescent identity crisis as the developmental period…

Secondary school students (N=12,988) completed Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status and questionnaire assessing experience with cigarettes, inhalants, alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine. Discriminant analyses of substance use, across achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion identity statuses, yielded significant functions for…

Examined ethnicity, gender, and grade as potential mediating factors of early adolescent identity development. Administered Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status to 367 seventh- and eighth-graders. Results showed instrument appropriate for use with early adolescents. Females and older students were more developmentally sophisticated…