The identity status of African Americans in middle adolescence: A reexamination of Watson and Protinsky (1991)

In contrast to earlier research, Watson and Protinsky (1991) found that Afr ican American students did not experience identity foreclosure to a greater extent than did their Caucasian peers. Watson and Protinsky, however, exam ined only ideological identity. The purpose of the present study was to ext end this line of research by examining identity development in the interper sonal domain as well as the ideological domain. Forty-eight African America n students completed a revised version of the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOM-EIS II). Supporting the conclusions of Watson and Protinsky, the results showed that few of the African American students we re foreclosed. Instead, most of the students were in moratorium; that is, t hey were engaged in the identity-exploration process. Results for the inter personal domain were similar to those for the ideological domain.