Identity Status and Ego Development: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between Marcia's identity statuses and Loevinger's stages of ego development through techniques of meta-analysis. Previous theory and research have suggested conceptual and empirical linkages. An initial database of 565 empirical studies of identity status in relation to personality, behavioral, relational, and developmental variables, undertaken between 1966 and 2005, was identified from the PsycINFO, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, and Dissertation Abstracts International databases using the following search terms: “identity status,” “identity and Marcia,” “identity and Marcia's,” and “ego identity.” Fourteen investigations focused on the relationship between identity status and ego development, and 11 of these studies provided data feasible for meta-analysis (N = 943). Results showed a strong mean odds ratio (3.02) for the association of achievement-moratorium identity statuses and postconformist stages of ego development versus foreclosure-diffusion identity statuses and non-postconformist ego development stages. Although identity achievement was linked with postconformist stages of ego development (mean OR = 2.15), no association was found between the foreclosed identity status and conformist stages of ego development. A moderate, positive mean correlation () was found between identity status and ego development. Results are discussed in terms of a possible organizational structure underlying the two developmental models.

Notes

Note. Measure of identity status: 1 = Identity Status Interview; 2 = Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOM-EIS). Measure of ego development: SCT = Sentence Completion Test.

Note. K = number of studies; N = total number of participants; CI = confidence interval; Q = test of variation among studies. The analyses are based on a random effects model.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kine Jespersen

Kine Jespersen is now at Child and Youth Psychiatric Services, Mid-Troms Mental Health Center, Silsand, Norway.