Does Employment Status Matter for Emerging Adult Identity Development and Life Satisfaction? A Two-wave Longitudinal Study.

Late emerging adulthood is pivotal for identity exploration and development and is interrelated with life satisfaction. In the development of identity and life satisfaction, it is important to have a stable employment status that supports the foundation of life. However, the interrelationships among identity, life satisfaction, and employment status in late emerging adulthood are unclear. Using a two-wave longitudinal survey, this study examined identity development and whether the relationship between identity and life satisfaction varies by employment status. Participants included 875 Japanese emerging adults (65.5% women, Mage = 24.74, SDage = 0.44). Multivariate analysis of variance showed that identity synthesis decreased for those who lost their jobs or those who changed from being full-time to part-time employment. Additionally, individuals with full-time employment had higher identity synthesis and lower confusion than those with part-time or no employment. Multi-group path analysis indicated that identity synthesis was positively associated with life satisfaction and confusion was negatively associated, and these relationships did not differ by employment status. These findings suggest that identity development in late emerging adulthood varies by employment status and that the association between identity and life satisfaction may not be moderated by employment status. Overall, this study contributes to elucidating the characteristics of identity development along employment status and its relationship to life satisfaction in late emerging adulthood.

Profiles of Emotional Separation and Parental Trust from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: Age Differences and Associations with Identity and Life Satisfaction.

Youth become psychologically independent by emotionally separating from their parents and simultaneously developing a sense of trust in them. While these relational components have been addressed separately, studies focusing on the change in dynamics of these components are lacking. This study examined profiles of parent-youth relationship quality based on emotional separation and parental trust, age differences in the prevalence of these profiles, and age differences in the associations between the profiles, identity, and life satisfaction. Participants included 14,428 youth living in Japan from five age groups (44.8% girls/women; Mage = 20.6 years; range = 12-25 years). Six profiles were identified: healthy-independent, unhealthy-independent, balanced, moderate/ambivalent, connected, and distant. The connected profile was predominant among early adolescents, while the healthy-independent profile was predominant among late adolescents and early and middle emerging adults. Among all age groups, identity synthesis was the highest in the healthy-independent profile, and life satisfaction was the highest and identity confusion was the lowest in the healthy-independent and connected profiles. These findings indicate that young people navigate the process of becoming independent from their parents by balancing emotional separation and parental trust, and this balance relates to identity development and life satisfaction.

[Researching identity development and statuses with the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale: the Japanese version].

The Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS) provides a new method of researching identity development based on the dual-process model pertaining to lifespan development. This study developed and evaluated the Japanese version of this scale (DIDS-J). Two surveys of undergraduate and high school students showed that the DIDS-J had good reliability and validity and that it consisted of 25 items with five factors: commitment making, identity with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration. Through cluster analysis of the DIDS-J, five identity statuses were found that were not clearly distinguished by previous scales: foreclosure, achievement, searching moratorium, diffused diffusion, and carefree diffusion. Research using the DIDS-J has two advantages: it enables us to examine the process of identity development among adolescents with a wider age range, and to compare results cross-culturally in future research. The trial investigations compared student scores with those from previous research in Western cultures, demonstrating that DIDS-J may lead to further explanations of identity development.

[Examining the reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the 12-item Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (the 5th stage)].

This study aimed to develop a 12-item version of the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (the 5th stage) (EPSI (5th)) and examine its reliability and validity. University students (N = 545) participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a two-factor model provided a better fit than alternative one-factor models. An analysis of Cronbach's α coefficients and the test-retest method showed acceptable scale reliability. In accordance with our hypotheses, correlation analyses revealed that the EPSI (5th) subscale scores (i.e., synthesis and confusion) were significantly related to measures of self-esteem, life satisfaction with life, and identity confusion. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Trajectories in sense of identity and relationship with life satisfaction during adolescence and young adulthood.

Previous research on identity development among adolescents has focused on the processes involved. However, it is unclear how the sense of identity (synthesis and confusion) develops and how it relates to life satisfaction. This study aims to examine the relationship between sense of identity and life satisfaction among Japanese youth living in the urban Kanto, Kansai, and Chubu areas. A total of 5,047 Japanese youth (49.7% female; Time 1 Mage = 17.08 years, range = 12-22 years) in four age groups (early adolescence, middle adolescence, late adolescence, and young adulthood) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study. Latent growth modeling (LGM) analysis revealed that from early to middle adolescence, synthesis continued to be higher than confusion, whereas from late adolescence to young adulthood, confusion tended to be higher than synthesis. The results of the LGM further showed that the change in synthesis was positively related to the change in life satisfaction and the change in confusion was negatively related to it in all age groups. Using latent class growth analysis (LCGA), five identity classes were extracted: high synthesis-low confusion, low synthesis-high confusion, high synthesis-high confusion, low synthesis-low confusion, and moderate synthesis-moderate confusion. LCGA revealed that youth in the high synthesis classes had a higher sense of life satisfaction than did youth in high confusion classes. These findings provide critical insights into trajectories of identity formation and the relationship between identity development and life satisfaction among Japanese youth that can inform future research and programs designed to facilitate their identity formation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Examination about the effects of future career choice on time perspective in Japanese high school students.

This study investigated types of career choice in high school students and examined the effects of career paths on time perspective development. The participants were 4,756 third grade students from nine public high schools in Tokyo. The high school questionnaire survey was conducted throughout autumn of 2008, 2009, and 2010. One year later, 962 graduates participated in the follow-up questionnaire survey by post. Distinguishing gender difference among career paths was found. Girls tend to choose significantly shorter learning careers (p < .01), for example junior college or vocational school in comparison to boys. Career indecision, i.e., students who could not set a concrete future career in high school, had significantly more negative time perspective than other groups (p < .05), which was caused by a deficiency of their basic cognitive ability. Longitudinal data showed different patterns of fluctuation in time perspective between "school to school transition" and "school to work transition". It is suggested that the "school to work transition" tends to be more critical for adolescents and has negative effects on time perspective. These results suggest that the goal content in careers may promote or inhibit the formation of time perspectives during the graduation transition.

Examination about the effects of future career choice on time perspective in Japanese high school students

This study investigated types of career choice in high school students and examined the effects of career paths on time perspective development. The participants were 4,756 third grade students from nine public high schools in Tokyo. The high school questionnaire survey was conducted throughout autumn of 2008, 2009, and 2010. One year later, 962 graduates participated in the follow-up questionnaire survey by post. Distinguishing gender difference among career paths was found. Girls tend to choose significantly shorter learning careers (p < .01), for example junior college or vocational school in comparison to boys. Career indecision, i.e. students who could not set a concrete future career in high school, had significantly more negative time perspective than other groups (p < .05), which was caused by a deficiency of their basic cognitive ability. Longitudinal data showed different patterns of fluctuation in time perspective between «school to school transition» and «school to work transition». It is suggested that the «school to work transition» tends to be more critical for adolescents and has negative effects on time perspective. These results suggest that the goal content in careers may promote or inhibit the formation of time perspectives during the graduation transition (AU)

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