Identity development in people with mild intellectual disability: A short-term longitudinal study
- PDF / 508,502 Bytes
- 10 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 87 Downloads / 157 Views
Identity development in people with mild intellectual disability: A short-term longitudinal study Małgorzata Rękosiewicz 1
# The Author(s) 2018
Abstract The objective of the study was to diagnose changes in the identity of individuals with mild intellectual disability (ID) in late adolescence and emerging adulthood, comparing them to their non-disabled peers. The dual-cycle model of identity formation of Luyckx et al. was employed (Developmental Psychology, 42, 366–380, 2006). The study included 127 participants living in Poland. Three waves were performed at half-year intervals. The Dimensions of Identity Development Scale in its modified version for people with ID was used (DIDS/PL-1; Rękosiewicz Studia Psychologiczne, 53, 19–31, 2015). People from the four study groups (A - late adolescents with ID, B - emerging adults with ID, C - late adolescents within the intellectual norm, D emerging adults within the intellectual norm) in the main did not differ from one another in respect of the dimensions of identity formation. Over time, there was an increase in commitment making and identification with commitment, but only among adolescents with ID. None of the groups demonstrated significant changes in exploration in breadth, in depth, nor in ruminative exploration. It was successfully demonstrated that people with mild ID are not distinct on all dimensions of identity formation when compared to their peers within the intellectual norm. Minor changes in identity may indicate a longer period of identity formation, or dynamic changes coming earlier – during early adolescence or later – in early adulthood. Keywords Commitment . Emerging adulthood . Exploration . Identity . Late adolescence . Mild intellectual disability
Background Identity is a theoretical construct frequently explored by social scientists, both in theoretical deliberations and in empirical studies (Brubaker and Cooper 2000). Although it is understood in various ways, as a phenomenon impacting individuals or a collective, in the most general terms it can always be defined as a subjective response to the question Bwho am I (are we)?^ Psychological studies to date have been focused mainly on the subjective conditions for the formation of identity or its subjective correlates. We know far less about the social mechanisms involved in identity formation (Schwartz 2001). One particular unknown consists of groups of individuals with unique experiences: social minorities, non-students, people not attending school, people of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities, especially those with intellectual disability.
* Małgorzata Rękosiewicz [email protected] 1
Institute of Psychology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
In the psychological sense, Erikson’s theory defines identity as a set of beliefs about oneself, the world and people, as the perception of sameness and continuity of one’s own person despite the passage of time, and also as the feeling of distinctness and integrity (Erikson 1950). This theory was then developed by Marcia,
Data Loading...
