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Stages of Identity Development and Problem Drinking in College Women

NCJ Number
114466
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 17 Issue: 4 Dated: (1988) Pages: 349-369
Author(s)
R E Schnur; M L MacDonald
Date Published
1988
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Deviation from age-appropriate identity-developmental stage and problem drinking in 75 undergraduate women was investigated.
Abstract
A quantity/frequency scale assessed problem drinking. Two measures of identity, one projective and one observational, were used. May's Deprivation/Enhancement fantasy pattern measure assessed sexual identity. The College Women's Assertion Sample assessed the cognitive-style component of identity. The results supported the hypotheses that younger (freshmen/sophomore) women deviating from their age-appropriate identity stage of dedifferentiation, and older (junior/senior) women deviating from their age-appropriate stage of identity integration, were significantly more likely to experience drinking problems than were women who had entered their age-appropriate identity stages. The findings support psychodynamic theories of identity development in late adolescence, and suggest that problem-drinking women in different age/developmental stages of identity drink for different reasons and should be treated differently. (Author abstract)

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