Patterns in Identity Change and Development in Relationships With Mothers and Friends Olaf Reis

Traditional research about identity status has been followed by investigations of identity change that challenge the notion of a general increase in maturity during adolescence while also calling for a more contextualized view on identity processes. This study exam-ines changes in identity measured by the Identity Scale of the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory. In a group of 294 high school students, four different trajectories were found between sophomore and senior years. The authors explored whether relationships with mothers and friends would be associated to identity trajectories. Our results show that a decremental change in identity was related to persistent problems with mothers and friends. For mothers, a lack of communication and for friends, persistent conflicts were related to decremental identity changes