有憂鬱傾向與外向偏差問題之國、高中生自我認同發展與心理健康之間的關係

Erik Erikson postulated that identity formation is the main developmental task during
adolescence. The current study is to examine how three features of self-identity, namely, identity
importance, identity firmness, and identity discrepancy, are related to adolescent mental health. In
the EarlyAdolescence Group (N = 1397), the junior high school students designated as the
Non-Depressed Group (N = 1238) demonstrated higher identity firmness and lower identity
discrepancy than those designated as the Depressed Group (N = 152). Three multiple regression
analyses indicated that aspects of identity discrepancy were slightly better predictors for depressive
symptom than were aspects of identity importance or identity firmness. Findings of the Early
Adolescence Group were then replicated in the Middle Adolescence group (N = 1971). Those
high school students designated as the Non-Depressed Group (N = 1771) demonstrated higher
identity firmness and lower identity discrepancy than those designated as the Depressed Group (N =
198). However, findings from the Middle Adolescence Group indicated that identity discrepancy
was not a better predictor than identity firmness on depressive symptom measured by CES-D. In
conclusion, the present study yielded that identity firmness and discrepancy are better predictors for
depressive symptoms than identity importance. However, identity discrepancy did not seem to be
a more powerful predictor than identity firmness as shown in the college sample. Specific
developmental trend during adolescence is discussed to explain the disparity of age differences.