Sherry L. Beaumont

Individual Differences in Identity Styles Predict Proactive Forms of Positive Adjustment

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of differences in proactive, adaptive forms of positive adjustment as a function of identity processing style. Three hundred undergraduate students (98 men, 202 women) completed self-report measures of identity styles (informational, normative, diffuse-avoidant), identity commitment, curiosity/exploration, proactive coping, and emotional intelligence. All three identity styles and identity commitment were found to be related to curiosity/exploration, proactive coping, and emotional intelligence. These relationships were positive with identity commitment and the informational and normative styles. When the overlapping variance accounted for by identity commitment was controlled via hierarchical regression, all three identity styles significantly predicted emotional intelligence, with positive predictions from the normative and informational styles. However, only the informational identity style made a unique positive contribution to curiosity/exploration and to proactive coping. These results are discussed in terms of the role of identity processing style in positive adjustment.

Identity Styles and Wisdom During Emerging Adulthood: Relationships with Mindfulness and Savoring

Eriksons (1968) supposition about the importance of mature identity for wisdom was examined by testing the hypothesis that informational identity processing is uniquely associated with wisdom and with related positive subjective experiences (mindfulness and savoring). Emerging adults (N = 320; 68.5% women; age range = 18–29 years) completed self-report measures of: identity styles (informational, normative, diffuse), identity commitment, wisdom (cognitive, reflective, affective), mindfulness, savoring beliefs, and savoring behaviors. The informational style was positively related to wisdom, mindfulness, and savoring beliefs as well as to several savoring behaviors (e.g., absorption and counting blessings). The highest levels of informational identity processing, identity commitment, mindfulness, and savoring beliefs were found for individuals who scored in the top quartile on wisdom. Finally, structural equation modeling was used to examine linear relationships among these variables and revealed that the informational style positively predicted wisdom, which positively predicted mindfulness and savoring beliefs.

Adolescent-Parent Verbal Conflict The Roles of Conversational Styles and Disgust Emotions

A total of 94 adolescents (M age = 14.2 years) participated in 20-minute hypothetical conflict discussions with either their mothers or fathers (24 daughter-mother, 22 son-mother, 25 daughter-father, 23 son-father dyads). Audiotaped conversations were coded for speakers’ conversational style (overlaps between turns, simultaneous speech, and successful interruptions) and hostile emotional expressions (i.e., disgust/contempt). Adolescents used a conversational style that included more overlaps, simultaneous speech and successful interruptions than their parents, with the greatest differences in styles found for adolescents and their mothers. Adolescents’ and parents’ conversational styles and expressions of disgust were analyzed in modeling procedures in an attempt to predict selfreported perceptions of adolescent-parent conflict. Results revealed that adolescents’ rates of disgust were positively predicted from both the degree of difference in the adolescent’s and parent’s conversational styles and from the parent’s rates of disgust expressions. In turn, adolescents’ expressions of disgust were found to positively predict adolescents’ perceptions of levels of relationship conflict with their parents.

Adolescent Girls' Conversations with Mothers and Friends: A Matter of Style.

The purpose of this study was to compare communication patterns of adolescent girls and their mothers versus friends to find evidence of stylistic differences. Fifty‐six girls in two age groups—preadolescent and midadolescent—participated in discussions about four hypothetical issues with either their mothers or close friends. Conversations were coded for various features of temporal communication style: interruptions, overlaps between turns, and simultaneous speech. Girls of both ages and their friends exhibited a fast‐paced conversation style which included frequent interruptions and simultaneous speech and the tendency to use overlaps between turns, and this tendency increased from pre‐ to midadolescence. In contrast, mothers exhibited a style characterized by slower pacing and pausing and infrequent interruptions and simultaneous speech. As a result of these stylistic differences, daughters ended up interrupting their mothers more than mothers interrupted daughters. These results are discussed in term...

Similarities and Differences in Mother-Daughter and Mother-Son Conversations During Preadolescence and Adolescence

Temporal and functional conversation styles were examined in discussions between mothers and their preadolescent or adolescent sons and daughters. Conversations were audiotaped and coded for speakers’ rates of overlaps between speaking turns, simultaneous speech, and successful interruptions. Results indicated that boys and girls of both ages used a high-involvement conversational style including frequent overlaps, simultaneous speech, and interruptions. Mothers used a high-considerateness style characterized by significantly lower rates of overlaps, simultaneous speech, and interruptions than their children. Secondary analyses examining the functions of speakers’ simultaneous speech and successful interruptions indicated that adolescents produced less confirming simultaneous speech than preadolescents, and more confirming simultaneous speech was produced in the preadolescent boy dyads than in either the adolescent boy dyads or the preadolescent girl dyads. Finally, adolescent boys produced significantly more rejecting successful interruptions than their mothers.

Patterns of Coping Associated With Identity Processing Styles

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of relationships between identity processing styles and a range of beneficial and problematic coping strategies. Participants completed self-report measures of identity styles (informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant), identity commitment, and 15 different coping strategies. The diffuse-avoidant style was positively associated with denial, disengagement, and substance use, and it was also positively related to humor. The normative and informational styles were positively correlated with active coping, planning, restraint, seeking social support, and turning to religion; however, the informational style was more highly correlated with all of these coping strategies except turning to religion. The informational style was the only identity style that was positively related to acceptance and positive reinterpretation and growth.

The Link Between Identity Style and Intimacy: Does Emotional Intelligence Provide the Key?

The authors examined the relationships among identity, emotional intelligence, and intimacy. Participants were 325 emerging adults (69% women) who completed measures of identity processing styles (informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant), identity commitment, and intimacy. A subsample (n = 174) completed the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. The informational and normative identity styles were positively related to intimacy, whereas the diffuse-avoidant identity style was inversely related to intimacy. The informational style was positively related to emotional intelligence, and the diffuse-avoidant style was inversely related to emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence was also positively related to intimacy. Mediation analyses revealed that emotional intelligence mediates the relationships between identity processing and intimacy for the informational (partial mediation) and diffuse-avoidant (full mediation) styles.

Identity Processing Styles and Defense Styles During Emerging Adulthood: Implications for Life Distress

Relationships among identity processing styles, defense styles, and life distress were examined in a sample of 276 emerging adults (M = 19.71 years). Respondents completed the Identity Style Inventory, Revised; the Defense Style Questionnaire; and the Life Distress Inventory. Correlations and structural equation analyses revealed that the informational identity style was positively related to the mature defense style, all three identity styles were positively related to the neurotic defense style, and the diffuse-avoidant identity style was positively related to the immature defense style. Mediation analyses revealed that the positive relationship between the diffuse-avoidant style and life distress was mediated by the immature defense style. The results suggest potential implications of the diffuse-avoidant style for maladjustment through the use of immature defenses.

Patterns of Spirituality and Meaning in Life Related to Identity

Undergraduate students (N = 270; 71.1% women) completed self-report measures of identity styles (informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant), identity commitment, identity distress, the search for meaning in life, the presence of meaning in life, and expressions of spirituality (cognitive orientation to spirituality, experiential/phenomenological dimension, existential well-being, paranormal beliefs, and religiousness). The informational and normative styles were positively associated with identity commitment, the presence of meaning in life, cognitive orientation to spirituality, and religiousness. The informational style was also positively associated with the experiential/phenomenological dimension of spirituality and the search for meaning in life, and the normative identity style was also positively related to existential well-being. The diffuse-avoidant style was negatively associated with identity commitment, the presence of meaning in life, and existential well-being, and was positively associated with identity distress and the search for meaning in life. In a factor analysis, these latter two variables loaded together as a single factor that can be characterized as existential search and distress.