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Adolescent identity and school type
Author(s) -
Roker Debra,
Banks Michael H.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1993.tb02484.x
Subject(s) - psychology , identity (music) , social psychology , private school , sample (material) , class (philosophy) , developmental psychology , subject (documents) , mathematics education , chemistry , physics , chromatography , artificial intelligence , library science , computer science , acoustics
The study examined the Eriksonian notion of exploration of identity alternatives and commitment to goals and beliefs during adolescence, focusing on whether this was associated with school type. A sample of 127 girls from one private and one state school, drawn from comparable social‐class backgrounds, were interviewed in depth. Each subject was classified according to Marcia's (1966) four categories of identity achievement, moratorium, foreclosure and diffusion in the domains of politics and occupation. Significant differences between the private‐ and state‐educated samples are reported for both identity exploration and commitment in the two domains. Possible explanations for these differences are given, and recommendations for future work are made.