A successful identity formation is related to being psychologically well (Erikson, 1963). This link seems to be lost in the identity style literature that focuses either on the maturity of the identity styles, or on adaptive and maladaptive behaviour correlates of identity styles. In this study, we address this lost link. We administered the Identity Style Inventory (Berzonsky, 1992a) and the scales of Psychological Well‐Being (Ryff, 1989) to 230 Hellene (Greek) University students. The Hellenic (Greek) translations of the scales functioned appropriately. The findings suggest that avoiding facing identity issues is negatively related to psychological well‐being, while, when such issues are faced, the way of facing them is not important.

Exploration has long been assumed to be the primary mechanism behind changes in identity commitments. Conceptual and operational definitions of exploration emphasize the active role of the individual. In addition to this mechanism, we propose a model based on emotions to explain changes in relational identity commitments. To investigate the viability of this model, four individuals (aged 20-22 years) reported daily identity-relevant experiences for 5 months. The Groningen Identity Development Scale (Bosma, 1985) and a variant thereof were administered at the beginning and end of this period, respectively. The results challenge the primacy of exploration as a mechanism behind commitment changes, and reveal an important role for emotions in such changes.Forming an identity is the major developmental task during the transition to adulthood (Erikson, 1950). In the best-known operationalization of identity, the identity status paradigm (Marcia, 1966), suggested looking at the commitments individuals make in respect to occupation and ideology. Later, Rogow, Marcia, and Slugoski (1983) suggested that any personally relevant issue can be used from the perspective of the identity status paradigm. Following this suggestion, the identity IDENTITY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY AND RESEARCH, 5(1), 35-56

The purpose of this study was to investigate which social role transitions typically related to the advent of adulthood are associated with the perceived adulthood status of Greek men and women aged 25-29 and 30-35. Participants were 313 (27.8% male, overall average age 29.9 years) Greeks who answered questions concerning the achievement of adult role transitions (getting married, bearing children, moving away from parental home, becoming financially independent, and employed) and their perceived adulthood status. Logistic regressions run separately per gender and age-group exhibited that the family condition and the living arrangement predicted the perceived adulthood status of women 30-35. None of the social role transitions predicted the perceived adulthood status of the remaining three groups. The discussion focuses on the importance of these findings for the study of emerging adulthood.

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