ABSTRACT
Drawing on the Meeus-Crocetti identity model, it was analysed whether the sense of identity in the parental and romantic domains is related to domain-specific functioning or whether they are related to a broad spectrum of outcomes. Four hundred and fifty-nine individuals (58% women), aged 21‒40 (M = 33.88, SD = 4.39), participated in this cross-sectional study. Using structural equation modelling it was analysed whether the parental and romantic relationship identity processes (commitment, in-depth exploration, reconsideration of commitment) are associated with parental and relational outcomes. The results showed that a sense of parental identity turned out to be mostly related to childrearing stress and parental role restrictions, while a sense of romantic relationship identity was associated with romantic relationship stress and romantic relationship conflicts. The results support a domain-specific approach to the study of identity, suggesting that not only are parental and romantic identities only weakly related to each other, but also that their development is linked to specific parental or relational experiences.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Author contribution
KP was responsible for the study’s conceptualization, data collection, data preparation, data analysis, and report writing.
Data availability statement
The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JZBWX.
Open Scholarship
This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JZBWX.