Identity formation is conceptualized in terms of a social‐cognitive model that postulates stylistic differences in how people negotiate or manage to evade the challenge of constructing, maintaining, and/or reconstructing their sense of identity. Some people adopt an informed, refl ective orientation to identity conflicts and questions; others take a more automatic, normative approach; whereas others procrastinate and delay identity decisions until situational demands and consequences dictate how they react. The role that general rational and automatic cognitive processes and identity processing styles play in identity formation is considered. Research that has evaluated the theoretical hypothesis according to which the linkage between rational and automatic reasoning processes and measures of identity formation is mediated by identity processing style is reviewed. The fi ndings indicated that rational and automatic cognitive processes generally did account for signifi cant variance on measures of identity formation including strength of commitment, types of selfattributes within which one’s identity was grounded, and identity status. However, the fi ndings further revealed that identity processing styles at least in part mediated most of the relationships between cognitive processes and identity formation. In all of the analyses, identity processing styles explained a greater amount of the unique variation in measures of identity formation than the cognitive variables.

Michael D. Berzonsky’s Identity Style Inventory (ISI) – data of statistical assessment of the ISI Polish adaptation

The article consists of data connected to statistical assessment of the Polish adaptations of Michael Berzonsky’s method for diagnosing styles of identity and commitment – the Identity Style Inventory (ISI). At present his method appears in two versions: ISI3 (A. Senejko’s Polish adaptation) and ISI4 (A. Senejko and E. Okręglicka-Forysiak’s Polish adaptation). The article discusses at the issue of different forms of statistical assessment of both versions of the ISI. The paper also includes a short analysis of the theoretical model, which was the basis for Identity Style Inventory.

The factor structure of Michael D. Berzonsky’s Identity Style Inventory. How many styles are measured by ISI3?

The Identity Style Inventory ISI3 developed by Michael D. Berzonsky is currently one of the most widely used measurement instruments in personality research – both in English language and Polish literature. The following paper is the Polish publication presenting the results of the study on the factor structure of identity styles as conceptualized by Berzonsky and operationalized in the ISI3 questionnaire.
The study involved a total of 1995 people belonging to three developmental stages: early adolescence, late adolescence, and early adulthood. By means of confi rmatory factor analysis with parcelling, which has been used in English-language literature, the 3-factor structure of the inventory was confi rmed (similarly as in other countries). However, this paper questions the above method of analysis and proposes that it is necessary to check if the studied constructs are one-dimensional. Verifi cation conducted with the help of exploratory factor analysis and the comparison of alternative models with confi rmatory factor analysis seem to contradict the 3-factor structure. The collected empirical material appears to indicate that the diffuse-avoidant style (measured with the Polish version of the ISI3) in fact consists of two independent dimensions: the avoidant style and the diffuse-careless style.

The strategies for constructing own future and identity processing orientations in late adolescence

This article discusses the results of research whose purpose was to identify the relation between the prospective activities of adolescents, analysed through the categories of strategies for constructing own future, and identity formation. Another objective of the study was to examine if these activities are connected with the increasing intensity of the relational patterns considered in terms of the categories of autonomy and intimacy in adolescents’ families. The research was conducted among a group of 145 young people: 68 high school students and 77 academic students. The research was based on the Strategies for Constructing Own Future Inventory, the Identity Style Inventory and the Family of Origin Scale. The results revealed that there exist a relation between the realistic strategy and the informational processing orientation with commitment and the negative diffuse-avoidant processing orientation. The results of the study also indicate that the authority based and pressure-based strategies are connected to the normative processing orientation. The research relevaled two interesting aspects: fi rstly, a positive relation between the carpe diem strategy and the diffuse-avoidant processing orientation and secondly, a negative correspondence between the informational processing orientation and commitment. The results revealed that the connection between the relational patterns in families and strategies is indirectly dependent on commitment, which is interpreted as an individual value system formation.

The relationship with parents and identity styles in early and mid-adolescence.

The resolution of identity crisis is the main developmental task for adolescents. Identity is formed in social contexts. Family is the of the earliest and most important social groups in the development of a child.
There are several theoretical perspectives on the links between parent-adolescent relations and identity. They suggest that warm, close family relationship characterised by control and acceptance of adolescents’ autonomy promotes exploration of identity alternatives.
The main purpose of the present study was to describe the connection between adolescents’ relationship with their parents and their identity styles. The 469 adolescents (145 from colleges, 324 from high schools) participated in this study. They completed the Identity Style Inventory ISI (M. Berzonsky) and Parents-Adolescents Relations Inventory (E. Gurba). Positive links between good relations with parents, low number of confl icts and normative and informational style of early and mid-adolescents’ identity were found. The high frequency and number of conflicts between mother and mid-adolescents were connected with diffuse-avoidant style of identity. The adolescents’ identity styles were more often correlated with the characteristics of relations with their mother than with their father.

The identity issue in D.P. McAdams’ and E.H. Erikson approaches

The article investigates the relationship between narrative and psychosocial identity. Dan McAdams’ point of departure for his concept of narrative identity is Erik Erikson’s developmental model, based on whih he states that narrative identity as a globally coherent life story begins to emerge in adolescence and early adulthood. He refers to the same developmental factors as Erikson and stresses an analogical function: the integration of different elements of life. On the other hand, narrative self-understanding allows to include a personal change in time better than stable commitments.
The aforementioned premises inspired exploratory research on the relation of emerging life commitments and global coherence of self narratives. Examined adolescents constructed superficial coherent autonarratives without any relation to commitments, although commitments were positively related to thematic coherence based on self-refl ection. Causal understanding of personal change was rarely included in the stories (even by people with strong commitments).
The author argues that it is likely that at first there develops the conventional and superficial organization of an autonarrative whih is then structured on the refl ection of someone’s life. Although the integration of one’s life is common for both approaches to identity, understanding a personal change is probably more related to further developmental achievements than stable commitments.

Sprawozdanie z z III Wrocławskich Konfrontacji Psychologicznych „Psychologia w kryzysie?”, 22–23 kwietnia 2010

RECENZJA: Robert D. Hill (2010), Pozytywne starzenie się, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Laurum