Identity status interviews involving five domains of life (religious belief
s, political ideology, occupational career, intimate relationships, and lif
estyle) were conducted with 249 women and men at ages 27 and 36. The result
s on overall identity and domain-specific identities confirmed our general
hypothesis as to the strengthening of the commitment process: (1) stability
was higher in the identity statuses involving commitment (identity achieve
ment and foreclosure) than in the statuses not involving commitment (identi
ty diffusion and moratorium); (2) an increase in the salience of identity d
omains could be attributed to an increase in the commitment process; (3) tr
ansitions into identity statuses involving commitment were more frequent th
an transitions into statuses not involving commitment: indicating that both
identity achievement and foreclosure might be end points of identity devel
opment. It was concluded that the results pointed to identity development i
n adulthood rather than to a random fluctuation in identity statuses over t
ime. (C) 2000 Academic Press.