Analysis of Crisis and Commitment in Ego-Identity

The purpose of this study was to examine developmental changes and sex differences in adolesent crisis and commitment on the following seven domains: Career dicision making, politics, life style, heterosexual relationship, friendship, academic study, and club activities. Two questionaires were provided : one to assess the degree of crisis had three items for each domain and the other to assess the degree of commitment had two items for each domain. The 99 freshman and 67 junior college students were required to rate for each item on 4-point scales at the 9th grade, the 12th grade, and the present, respectively. Developmental changes in crisis. (1) For the career decision making and life style, the crisis scores of the freshman students increased from the 9th to 12th grade while those of the junior students increased from 9th grade to the present. (2) The scores on the politics and heterosexual relationship were lower than those on the other domains and for the junior students those scores increased remarkably from the 9th grade to the present. (3)The scores on the friendship and club activities showed little increment or no change from the 9th to 12th grade while those increased from 12th grade to the present. (4)For the academic study the scores increased from the 9th to 12th grade but did not increase from the 12th grade to the present. Developmental changes in commitment. (1) The commitment scores on the politics and heterosexual relationship were lower than those on the other domains and increased remakably from the 9th grade to the present. (2)For the life style and friendship the scores increased from the 9th to 12th grade but did not increase from the 12th grade to the present. (3)The junior's commitment scores on the career decision making, life style, and academic study showed little decrement or no change from the 12th grade to the present. These findings suggest that the students do not commit themselves on those domains even when they have crisis experiences. Sex differences. For the junior students the crisis and commitment scores on the politics were higher for the males than for the females, and the crisis scores on the club activities were higher for the females than for the males