Hr. Winefield et Ej. Harvey, PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY IN EARLY ADULTHOOD - RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOCIAL-DEVELOPMENT AND IDENTITY, The Journal of genetic psychology, 157(1), 1996, pp. 93-103
The relationship between social development and a sense of personal id
entity in early adulthood was explored. Information was gathered by st
ructured interviews with randomly selected older students (N = 111, av
erage age 24.1 years). Cluster analysis showed that 9.1% of the sample
was very socially isolated but not dissatisfied with that, 28.3% had
few social relationships but were very committed to the student identi
ty, and 20.2% seemed to have achieved both intimacy in social relation
ships and a sense of identity. The relationships between the two attri
butes of intimate social relationships and personal identity, which ar
e often described as criteria for psychological maturity in early adul
thood, are variable. Longitudinal studies and nonstudent samples are b
oth essential for further research.