Identity Development and Well-Being Among Nonreligious and Christian Emerging Adults in the Central United States

Abstract

Emerging adulthood is an important period for managing the pressing developmental tasks of identity exploration and formation. Affiliation with a religion can inform how emerging adults understand themselves and commit to aspects of their identity, which may have implications for well-being. The present studies tested the ways in which identification with and commitment to Christianity inform identity development (i.e., exploration and commitment) and well-being (i.e., positive affect, negative affect, life satisfaction) among two samples of central U.S. college adults, both concurrently (Studies 1 and 2) and with a 2-month follow-up (Study 2 only). Across studies, self-identification as a Christian and greater commitment to Christianity were positively associated with identity exploration and subjective well-being. Further, indirect effects were supported between Christian affiliation and well-being, given differences in identity exploration. The current studies motivate a continued focus on social identities as contributors to adjustment in emerging adulthood.

Keywords

Christianity identity development subjective well-being emerging adulthood

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arnett

J. J.

(2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480. https://doi.org/10/fq8prf

Arnett

J. J.

(2014). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. Oxford University Press.

Arnett

J. J.

Jensen

L. A.

(2002). A congregation of one: Individualized religious beliefs among emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 17, 451–467. https://doi.org/10/d6w8tv

Beit-Hallahmi

(2015). Psychological perspectives on religion and religiosity. Routledge.

Booker

J. A.

Dunsmore

J. C.

(2017). Expressive writing and well-being during the transition to college: Comparison of emotion-disclosing and gratitude-focused writing. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 36, 580–606. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2017.36.7.580

Burrow

A. L.

Hill

P. L.

Ratner

Fuller-Rowell

T. E.

(2020). Derailment: Conceptualization, measurement, and adjustment correlates of perceived change in self and direction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118, 584–601. https://doi.org/10/gfgkjc

Côté

J. E.

(2006). Emerging adulthood as an institutionalized moratorium: Risks and benefits to identity formation. In Arnett

J. J.

Tanner

J. L.

(Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 85–116). American Psychological Association. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/11381-004

Diener

Emmons

R. A.

Larson

R. J.

Griffin

(1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.

Eagan

Stolzenberg

E. B.

Ramirez

J. J.

Aragon

M. C.

Suchard

M. R.

Rios-Aguilar

(2016). The American freshman: Fifty-year trends 1966–2015. Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.

10.

Ebstyne King

Furrow

J. L.

(2004). Religion as a resource for positive youth development: Religion, social capital, and moral outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 40, 703–713. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.5.703

11.

Ellison

C. G.

Gay

D. A.

Glass

T. A.

(1989). Does religious commitment contribute to individual life satisfaction? Social Forces, 68, 100–123. https://doi.org/10.2307/2579222

12.

Erikson

E. H.

(1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. WW Norton & company.

13.

Feenstra

J. S.

(2011). Vocational exploration through service: The effect of service-learning on student understanding of God’s calling. Journal of Education and Christian Belief, 15, 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/205699711101500107

14.

Fischer

A. L.

Aydin

Frey

Haslam

S. A.

(2010). The relationship between religious identity and preferred coping strategies: An examination of the relative importance of interpersonal and intrapersonal coping in Muslim and Christian faiths. Review of General Psychology, 14, 365–381. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021624

15.

Hardy

S. A.

Pratt

M. W.

Pancer

S. M.

Olsen

J. A.

Lawford

H. L.

(2011). Community and religious involvement as contexts of identity change across late adolescence and emerging adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35, 125–135. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025410375920

16.

Hevel

M. S.

Martin

G. L.

Weeden

D. D.

Pascarella

E. T.

(2015). The effects of fraternity and sorority membership in the fourth year of college: A detrimental or value-added component of undergraduate education? Journal of College Student Development, 56, 456–470. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2015.0046

17.

Leondari

Gialamas

(2009). Religiosity and psychological well-being. International Journal of Psychology, 44, 241–248. https://doi.org/10/fkxhkt

18.

Levenson

M. R.

Aldwin

C. M.

D’Mello

(2005). Religious development from adolescence to middle adulthood. In Paloutzian

R. F.

Park

C. L.

(Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality (pp. 144–161). Guilford Press.

19.

Lim

(2015). Religion and subjective well-being across religious traditions: Evidence from 1.3 million Americans. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 54, 684–701. https://doi.org/10/gf8wbc

20.

MacKinnon

D. P.

Cox

M. C.

(2012). Commentary on “Mediation analysis and categorical variables: The final frontier” by Dawn Iacobucci. Journal of Consumer Psychology: The Official Journal of the Society for Consumer Psychology, 22, 600–602. https://doi.org/10/f4b2tb

21.

Maclean

A. M.

Walker

L. J.

Matsuba

M. K.

(2004). Transcendence and the moral self: Identity integration, religion, and moral life. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 43, 429–437. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2004.00245.x

22.

Marcia

J. E.

(1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551–558. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0023281

23.

Marcia

J. E.

(1980). Identity in adolescence. In Adelson

(Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 159–186). Wiley.

24.

McAdams

D. P.

Olson

B. D.

(2010). Personality development: Continuity and change over the life course. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 517–542.

25.

Mochon

Norton

M. I.

Ariely

(2011). Who benefits from religion? Social Indicators Research, 101, 1–15. https://doi.org/10/fmnr2r

26.

Ngamaba

K. H.

Soni

(2018). Are happiness and life satisfaction different across religious groups? Exploring determinants of happiness and life satisfaction. Journal of Religion and Health, 57, 2118–2139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0481-2

27.

Ozmen

C. B.

Brelsford

G. M.

Danieu

C. R.

(2018). Political affiliation, spirituality, and religiosity: Links to emerging adults’ life satisfaction and optimism. Journal of Religion and Health, 57, 622–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0477-y

28.

Padilla-Walker

L. M.

Barry

C. M.

Carroll

J. S.

Madsen

S. D.

Nelson

L. J.

(2008). Looking on the bright side: The role of identity status and gender on positive orientations during emerging adulthood. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 451–467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.09.001

29.

Park

C. L.

(2005). Religion and meaning. In Paloutzian

R. F.

Park

C. L.

(Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality (pp. 295–314). Guilford Press.

30.

Park

C. L.

(2010). Making sense of the meaning literature: An integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 257–301. https://doi.org/10/br9zbw

31.

Pew Research Center. (n.d.). Adults in Missouri—Religion in America: U.S. religious data, demographics and statistics. Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

32.

Pew Research Center. (2019, October 17). In U.S., decline of Christianity continues at rapid pace. Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project. https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

33.

Ritchie

R. A.

Meca

Madrazo

V. L.

Schwartz

S. J.

Hardy

S. A.

Zamboanga

B. L.

Weisskirch

R. S.

Kim

S. Y.

Whitbourne

S. K.

Ham

L. S.

Lee

R. M.

(2013). Identity dimensions and related processes in emerging adulthood: Helpful or harmful? Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69, 415–432. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.21960

34.

Saroglou

Galand

(2004). Identities, values, and religion: A study among Muslim, other immigrant, and native Belgian young adults after the 9/11 attacks. Identity, 4, 97–132. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532706xid0402_1

35.

Schwartz

S. J.

Côté

J. E.

Arnett

J. J.

(2005). Identity and agency in emerging adulthood: Two developmental routes in the individualization process. Youth & Society, 37, 201–229. https://doi.org/10/fwh86s

36.

Selig

J. P.

Preacher

K. J.

(2008, June). Monte Carlo method for assessing mediation: An interactive tool for creating confidence intervals for indirect effects [Computer software]. http://quantpsy.org/

37.

StataCorp. (2017). Stata Statistical Software: Release 15. http://stata.com/

38.

Stets

J. E.

Burke

P. J.

(2000). Identity theory and social identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, 224–237. https://doi.org/10.2307/2695870

39.

Tay

Diener

(2014). The development and validation of the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT) and the Brief Inventory of Thriving (BIT). Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 6, 251–279. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12027

40.

Sumner

Burrow

A. L.

Hill

P. L.

(2015). Identity and purpose as predictors of subjective well-being in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 3, 46–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696814532796

41.

Tajfel

Turner

(1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In Austin

W. G.

Worschel

(Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 56–65). Wadsworth.

42.

Waterman

A. S.

(2007). Doing well: The relationship of identity status to three conceptions of well-being. Identity, 7, 289–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/15283480701600769

43.

Watson

Clark

L. A.

Tellegen

(1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.

44.

Ysseldyk

Matheson

Anisman

(2010). Religiosity as identity: Toward an understanding of religion from a social identity perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14, 60–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309349693

45.

Yukhymenko-Lescroart

M. A.

(2018). On identity and sport conduct of student-athletes: Considering athletic and academic contexts. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 34, 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.09.006

46.

Zimmermann

Mantzouranis

Biermann

(2010). Ego identity in adolescence: Preliminary validation of a French short-form of the EIPQ [Identité à l’adolescence: Qualités psychométriques de la version courte de l’Ego Identity Process Questionnaire]. Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology60173–180. https://doi.org/10/d7k2zp

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.10 MB