Measures of ego development and psychosocial identib are predictive of di&ences in the quality of relationships between young adults and their parents.Late in 1978, with the support of a three-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, we began a short-term longitudinal investigation of young adults and their relationships. At the basis of this research was the assumption that not only do individuals have the potential to progress through qualitative developmental changes across the life span but also the relationships in which they participate. In this chapter, we report our first-year findings on the relationships between family relationships and selected aspects of individual functioning.Why is a study of young adults included in a volume on adolescent development? As we will show, there are some important continuities in the issues in which adolescents and young adults are involved. For example, it seems clear that interrelationships among family interaction patterns, individuation, and other developmental processes continue beyond the adolescentThe study reported in this chapter was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH31719). Our thanks go to John Houlihan and Catherine Imbasciati for assistance with data analysis and project development and to Daniel Ozer for his comments on an earlier draft.

Intimate relationships, like the individuals who participate in them, are conceived of as following developmental processes. Five dimensions of intimacy--that is, relationship orientation, caring-concern, commitment, sexuality, and communication--are identified, and an approach to assessing relationship maturity on each of these dimensions is described. In a study of 31 young married couples, scores on each dimension of intimacy maturity were analyzed in relation to gender, gender role (as assessed through an adaptation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory; Bem, 1974), and marital adjustment. There were no significant differences between husbands and wives on any of the intimacy or marital adjustment scales and only a marginal difference on one gender role scale (agency). Patterns of correlations among intimacy, marital adjustment, and gender role scores varied by gender. Not only do there appear to be two marriages (his and hers) in every marriage, but the correlates of these marriages also vary.

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This study, inspired by Block's (1973) work, was designed to enable one to examine how ego development and socialization experience interact in relation to sex role identity. Sex role identity was measured via the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and socialization practices were measured via the Block Child-Rearing Practices Report. Both measures were scaled so as to yield scores on agency, communion, and androgyny. Ego development was assessed via Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development. The sample consisted of 120 young adult men and women, married and single. Analyses revealed that the predictive power of the variables differed by sex. Ego development was predictive of sex role identity in men but not women, whereas socialization practices were predictive of sex role identity in women but not men. The results were seen as supporting Chodorow's (1974) position regarding the differing socialization experiences of men and women.