Title

Adolescent Identity Development and Distress in a Clinical Sample

Authors

Authors

R. E. Wiley;S. L. Berman

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Clin. Psychol.

Keywords

identity development; identity distress; adolescent psychopathology; clinical; VALIDATION; Psychology, Clinical

Abstract

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of identity development and identity distress to psychological adjustment within adolescents affected by psychological problems. MethodParticipants included 88 adolescents (43.2% female) ranging from 11 to 20 years of age who were receiving services from a community mental health center. ResultsA high proportion of the participants (22.7%) met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision criteria for Identity Problem. Regression analyses found psychopathology symptom score was associated with identity distress, identity exploration, and identity commitment, while identity distress was only related to psychopathology symptom score and not the other two identity variables. ConclusionsAdolescents with a clinical diagnosis may report significant levels of identity distress. Given that the relationship between psychopathology and identity distress may be reciprocal, assessing for identity issues might be prudent when conducting clinical diagnostic interviews and useful in treatment planning. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Clin. Psychol. 69:1299-1304, 2013.

Journal Title

Journal of Clinical Psychology

Volume

69

Issue/Number

12

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

1299

Last Page

1304

WOS Identifier

WOS:000325996100008

ISSN

0021-9762

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