Are identity styles important for psychological well-being?

A successful identity formation is related to being psychologically well (Erikson, 1963). This link seems to be lost in the identity style literature that focuses either on the maturity of the identity styles, or on adaptive and maladaptive behaviour correlates of identity styles. In this study, we address this lost link. We administered the Identity Style Inventory (Berzonsky, 1992a) and the scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff, 1989) to 230 Hellene (Greek) University students. The Hellenic (Greek) translations of the scales functioned appropriately. The findings suggest that avoiding facing identity issues is negatively related to psychological well-being, while, when such issues are faced, the way of facing them is not important. (c) 2004 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.