The Relationship between Family Functioning and Identity Styles: The Mediating Role of Ego Strength

Identity style is a set of exploration, evaluation and decision making strategies that individuals use in their lives. The present study was performed to examine the mediating role of ego strength in the relationship of family functioning and identity styles among third and fourth grade school students. Two hundred and thirty seven students (123 boys, 114 girls) from various educational fields participated in this study. Participants completed the Identity Styles Inventory, Family Assessment Device, and Ego Strength Scale. The results demonstrated that perceived family functioning and ego strength had significant positive associations with informational and normative identity styles (p< .01). Perceived family functioning had a significant negative association with diffuse/avoidant identity style (p< .01). The results of path analysis showed that ego strength had a mediating role in the relationships between perceived family functioning and informational identity style. According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that the relationship between family functioning and identity styles is not a simple linear one. This is partly mediated by some personality characteristics such as ego strength