A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Identity Development: South Africa and the United States

Abstract

Two hundred seventy-two college students from South Africa and the United States completed the Extended Version of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status. Significantly more South African students than U.S. students were classified into the achieved status. South African students showed a tendency to be foreclosed in the interpersonal domains and achieved in the ideological domains. This tendency is not found in U.S. students. The study draws attention to differences between U.S. and South African students and utilizes sociological approaches to identity to explain these differences.