Socio-cultural Aspects of Identity Formation: The Relationship between Commitment and Well-Being in Student Samples from Cameroon and Germany

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between ego identity formation (commitment statuses) and subjective well-being among student samples from Cameroon and Germany. The Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status was administered to Cameroonian and German participants. Additionally, data on life satisfaction and mood states were collected. Firstly, the equivalence of measurements across cultural groups was examined. Subsequent analyses revealed that well-being was positively related to the level of identity achievement among participants from both cultural groups. In contrast, well-being did not show a positive association with commitments to goals and values that were adopted from significant others (Foreclosure). Gender did not moderate the relationship between well-being and identity statuses. Findings are discussed with respect to personal and socio-cultural aspects of identity development.

Notes

¹For readers with a particular interest in details about analyses on equivalence of measurements, all relevant information on multigroup analyses (e.g., statistical parameters, factor loadings, and regression weights) may be obtained from the first author upon request.

²Cohen's d is reported as effect size measure for mean differences in which ds of .20, .50, and .80 reflect small, medium, and large effect sizes, respectively (see Cohen, 1988). Additionally, eta-squared (η²) was used as an index of the strength of association between an independent variable and a dependent variable; η²s of .01, .06, and .14 can be interpreted as small, medium, and large effect size, respectively.

*p < .05;

**p < .01.

*p < .05;

**p < .01.

³As some of the variables deviated slightly from normal distribution (e.g., negative affect in both samples), analyses were also conducted with transformed predictors. Results did not differ from reported findings.

*p < .05;

**p < .01.