Work

Researching Identity Styles In Pakistan: Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Associations With Commitment and Value Priorities

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Identity styles—informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant—have been studied widely across North America and Europe but infrequently in “non-Western” cultures. We tested the factorial structure of the Identity Styles Inventory-5 (ISI-5) among 479 young adults in Pakistan. Findings supported the predicted three-factor solution, but only when numerous poorly performing items were deleted. We further tested associations among identity styles, identity commitment, and value priorities. As expected, informational and normative styles were associated with higher commitment, whereas diffuse-avoidant style was associated with lower commitment. The three identity styles showed a pattern of divergent associations with value priorities that mostly, but not entirely, replicated the pattern of associations previously found among U.S. and European samples. We conclude that Berzonsky’s three identity styles can be detected in a Pakistani cultural context but that the ISI-5 may not fully capture the breadth and complexity of identity formation processes among Pakistani youth.

Source: Identity

DOI: 10.1080/15283488.2018.1487843

Authors: Bushra Hassan, Vivian L. Vignoles, Seth J. Schwartz

Institutions: University of Sussex, University of Miami

Language: English

Topic: Identity, Memory, and Therapy

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

Award: G1366131759