Coping with Identity Conflict: Perceptions of Self as Flexible versus Fixed Moderate the Effect of Identity Conflict on Well-being

Abstract

In four experimental studies, we explored the moderating role of perceptions of one’s self as flexible vs. fixed on the relationship between identity conflict, well-being, and self-esteem. Across different contexts, it was demonstrated that representations of self as stable vs. changeable moderated the effect of conflicting identities on well-being and self-esteem. Specifically, the activation of conflicting identities led to a decrease in well-being and self-esteem among those who construed their self as stable, but not among those who adopted flexible representations of self. The results suggest that the net effect of multiple identities depends not only on their compatibility and importance, but also on the way in which one’s self-concept is construed.

Keywords:

• Multiple identities
• Identity conflict
• Perceptions of self

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Importance of both activated identities is controlled for in all analyses across all studies. Study 4 is conducted on a more demographically diverse sample than Studies 1–3 (which are conducted on student populations)—therefore, in this study, we also control for demographic variability (age only, as all participants are female) and full- vs. part-time working status as a parameter that may affect the extent of the identity conflict in our specific context (working mothers).

2. It should also be noted that this main effect (which might be due to confounding factors) might explain the apparent location of the effect of self-perceptions in the non-conflicting (rather than conflicting) identities condition: If the means for well-being among the flexible self-perceivers were higher across the board, and the slopes for flexible and stable self-perceivers remained the same, the effect would shift to the identity conflict condition.