The importance of family to identity is an accepted tenet of identity theories, though there is some dispute about the nature of this parental relationship and its facilitation of identity formation. This study investigated the relationship between the two developmental constructs of identity and attachment. Using the Identity Status Paradigm, hypotheses were tested with 329 college seniors regarding the relationship of parental attachment and the presence/absence of the processes of exploration of identity alternatives and commitment to specific aspects of identity. Analyses included a multivariate analysis to assess differences among identity statuses on variables of parental emotional support/affect and parental encouragement of autonomy, and a discriminant analysis to test whether these variables could better classify females into identity status in comparison to males. The hypothesis that a positive connectedness with parents would distinguish between identity statuses reflecting commitment versus those lacking commitment was largely supported. The hypothesis that greater parental encouragement of autonomy would characterize identity reflective of both exploration and commitment received limited support. The autonomy variable reflected differences when comparing identity characterized by both exploration and commitment with identity lacking both exploration and commitment. Attachment variables did not better classify females into identity status in comparison to males. Contains 33 references. (LSR)