What is the relationship between identity and intimacy?

Association of identity and intimacy: an exploration of gender and sex-role orientation

S Bartle-Haring et al. Psychol Rep. 1996 Dec.

Abstract

This study examined Erikson's psychosocial crises of identity versus identity diffusion and intimacy versus isolation, focusing specifically on how sex-role orientation contributes to gender differences in the resolution of these two crises. Perceptions of competence in self-disclosure and emotional support in both same-sex friendships and relationships with heterosexual dating partners, along with achievement of ideological and interpersonal identity, were included in the study so that differences could be examined. First-year and fourth-year college students (n = 135) at a large midwestern university responded to measures assessing identity, capacity for intimacy, and sex-role orientation. When controlling for sex-role orientation, the relationship between identity and intimacy was nonsignificant for men but significant for women.

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doi: 10.1037/a0026378. Epub 2011 Dec 26.

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• PMID: 22201333
• DOI: 10.1037/a0026378

The relationship between identity, intimacy, and midlife well-being: findings from the Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study

Joel R Sneed et al. Psychol Aging. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

The present study used longitudinal data on 182 adults between the ages of 20 and 54 (104 men, 78 women) from the Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study (RALS), assessed on four occasions, to test the hypothesis that identity and intimacy during the course of early and middle adulthood predict well-being at midlife. A cross-lagged panel model was estimated yielding the following findings: (a) Scores on both scales during the college years predicted midlife satisfaction-intimacy directly, and identity through the course of development from ages 20 to 54; moreover, identity in midlife, but not intimacy, was significantly linked with well-being at this same point in time; and (b) identity and intimacy unexpectedly did not predict one another over time, having been controlled for factor stability in identity and intimacy over time. The findings are discussed in terms of Erikson's psychosocial theory of development and the developmental moments and historical cohorts that characterize the present sample.

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