Ego Identity Status, Intellectual Development, and Academic Achievement in University of Freshman

Late adolescent development was examined through the attitudes , values , beliefs, and academic performance of 121 Freshman students , 57 male and 64 female , at the University of Rhode Island. Marcia's (1966) operationalization of Erik Erikson's psycho-social theory of late adolescence and William Perry's (1970) model of intellectual formation in the college years were instrumentally applied through two objective tests that classify students into the stages of each theory. Findings confirm the study's hypothesis of a significant relationship between academic achievemen t and identity status . There were significant main effects of identity status , as reported in GPA scores , before and after intelligence (SAT scores) was controlled . Significance among groups conformed to theory , in that higher identity status groups demonstrated higher GPA scores than lower status groups . Other findings confirmed hypotheses of 1 ) higher student frequencies in low cognitive stages than in high cognitive stages and 2) fewer low identity than high identity students classified in the high cognitive stages . Although not predicted , significant gender differences were found for females in identity achievement. Implicit in its findings , the study suggests that adolescent development is the product of ongoing interactions between one's cognitive skills and psychosocial experience during childhood. The level and quality of these "socio-cognitive " skills at late adolescence results in more or less advanced adult identities. Adult identity or global development is further reflected in achievement which, here, is measured by students ' academic performance .


Developmental Theories
There are two prominent areas of research in adolescent development which include cognitive development models and the educational research that extend these models into applied learning areas and a set of findings from ego identity research based on Marcia's (1966) operationalization of Erik Erikson's fifth stage crisis of adolescent identity ( 1959,1980).
Theoretical models on intellectual development have been illustrated in the stage theories of Jean Piaget (1972), William G. Perry (1970) and currently some groundbreaking feminist findings about women's "ways of knowing " (Belenky , Clinchy , Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986;Baxter-Magolda, 1992). Each perspective defines stages through which a young person moves in attaining higher forms of intellectual reasoning as specified by the theory. Perry's "scheme" (1970), which is used in this study, describes how a student advances in learning in terms of what the student requires from his teacher, classmates, knowledge content, learning environment, and evaluation procedures. Depending on the student 's stage of reasoning, different attitudes and behaviors are exhibited . For example, in the early college years, many students are in a passive stage of learning where the duality of right and wrong is assumed and the teacher is presumed to have all the answers . Later, multiple opinions are seen as valid although there is no measure of the differential value of one position over another, i.e., all opinions are equal. Finally , there is the acknowledgment that all knowledge is relative to the situation and to the existence of pertinent valid evidence which can be applied to the situation . When a student can argue for such a position in a committed way, he has achieved the last two stages of reasoning -relativism and committed relativism . These forms of reasoning are not usually attained until late adolescence and early adulthood, which is presumed to arrive at the end of the college years, however, many students will never arrive at the highest levels . This disparity in thought processing among students possibly accounts for much of the variance among their performance and behavior that frustrates the purposes of parents, teachers , and advising professionals .
Educators have contributed to and extended this research stream by developing training models that apply constructs from Perry's (1970) theory and research.
Instructional programming for teachers (Knefelkamp , 1983), faculty advisors (King, 1978), career counsellors (Knefelkamp & Slepitza, 1976;Moore, 1983) and student affairs administrators has allowed these professionals to deliver more relevant classroom lecture, counselling and interaction with students because they now understand there are several levels from which audience members will process and interpret the material. If the wide disparity between ability and academic and social performance is understood, efforts can be made to meet student needs.
Other significant research in adolescent development is that on ego identity, in particular, those studies that use Marcia's (1966) operationalization of Erikson's ( 1959Erikson's ( , 1980 fifth stage adolescent "identity crisis ". Erikson's theory of psycho-social development presents ego development as the underlying process of maturation in the person's life cycle. The ego's function, as defined by Freud, is to balance one's 2 inner feelings and desires with the needs of external reality. Therefore, the ego must develop skills that can adapt behavior to social roles and norms. The adolescent stage adaptation is to explore and commit to a life goal. Erikson's is a stage theory that requires completion of one ego capability , or psycho-social crisis, before the next can be completed. Thus , if a stage is missed or not adequately completed, the rest of development will be unfavorably affected . The failure to meet the challenge of the ego identity crisis, therefore, implies future social ineffectiveness for the individual. Marcia (1966) operationally defines the adolescent identity crisis in terms of achieving two important functions -to explore options in careers and cultural ideologies and then to commit to a certain career and/or ideology. This definition generated four separate ego identity statuses -the ego identity Achieved, Moratorium, Foreclosed, and Diffused groups. Each of these status groups accounts for specific levels of exploration and commitment to adult roles. In the identity Achieved status, the adolescent has successfully explored career and ideology options and has committed to one of them; the Moratorium status is when the adolescent is exploring options but has not yet arrived at a commitment ; the Foreclosed status has "foreclosed " on exploration but has committed to a role that most likely has been influenced by the student's family or other authority figures, and lastly, the Diffused status is one in which the young person may or may not have previously explored some options but is not now in exploration and has no motivation to explore or commit to a future role . Each of these statuses is more or 3 less adaptive . Marcia (1966) suggested that the sequence of Moratorium-Achievement is healthy and perhaps could be repeated sequentially many times over the course of one's life. The Diffused and Foreclosed groups , on the other hand , are considered lower status groups because of the absence of commitment and/or exploration in them. Diffusion is seen as less harmful in middle to late adolescence but beyond that age may implicate pathology (Akhtar, 1983;Marcia , 1989), and Foreclosure is troublesome because of its inhibition of individual growth through exploration.
However, most findings in identity status research, to date, are predicated on domains over which Western adolescents typically have some choice. It seems clear that a re-thinking of identity terms may be warranted in multi-cultural and in "special " personal situations.

Integration of Psycho-social and Cognitive Development
Erikson suggests it is the newly acquired abstract reasoning in late adolescence that triggers the questioning and self-searching process leading the individual closer to a resolution of his identity crisis. In fact , research studies show a preponderance of identity Achieved students categorized in Piaget's formal operational level of cognitive development. Although much research has shown formal operational skills (such as those involved in critical thinking) are required for identity achievement, they are also not sufficient. For example, Rowe and Marcia (1980) demonstrate the high correlation between formal operations and identity Achieved status but other lower statuses of Foreclosure and Diffusion were also shown to have acquired formal operational skills. Consistent with other psycho-social variables Blasi and Hoefel ( 197 4) see identity as "the experience of meaning and consistency to one's actions ... that requires a change in perspective and in the formation of new attitudes more than the acquisition of entirely new cognitive skills as the explanation of formal operations would imply ." Turner (as quoted in Chandler, 1975) agreed with the social aspect of identity as the "unique relationship of the self to its objective environment and is not enhanced through formal 5 thought. .. " Selman (1980) shares this social interpretation of ego identity and suggests "social perspective taking" as a mediator between cognitive development and identity development. Since Erikson's theory describes the groundplan for ego development, it would seem that a construct like "social perspective taking" and "consistency of one's actions " are ego capabilities that can help the adolescent in his movement toward resolution of his identity crisis. Abstract reasoning alone does not tell the whole story. Boyes and Chandler (1992) suggest another meaningful measure of one's identity status is based on epistemic thought. There are four progressive stages within epistemic thought: naive realism, defended realism , a dogmatism-skepticism axis, and postskeptical rationalism. In the last stage of epistemic thought, the person is comfortable with the interpretive nature of reality and can make judgments based on standards and methods that allow her to accept ideas and actions as more sound than others . The taxonomy is equivalent to that used in Perry's (1970) scheme of intellectual development , i.e., dualism, multiplicity, relativism, and commitment. Boyes and Chandler (1992) present epistemic thought as an underlying structure of Piaget's cognitive stages of development. Only the last two of Piaget's stages (transitional,llla-lllb and full formal operations,lllb) of cognitive development are correlated with the highest epistemic stages (Boyes & Chandler , 1992;Rowe & Marcia , 1980) and Kohlberg 's (1958) post-conventional level of moral thought (Rowe & Marcia , 1980). When identity status was correlated 6 with intellectual and moral development only identity Achieved subjects had attained the highest moral and intellectual stages (Rowe & Marcia, 1980). Similar to the way in which developmental stages of epistemic thought reflect increasingly complex constructions of reality , George Kelly's (1955) personal construct system describes how the person internally organizes reality as she lives it. For example , over a lifetime, the individual experiences socia l and personal events that can effect and change how he "construes " his world. Consequently , his decision-making style and coping mechanisms adapt to the new experiences.
These incremental changes, as they occur, may further impact his developmental identity status (Berzonsky , 1992). Kelly's (1955) personal construct system is a psycho-social perspective on cognitive abilities , yet maintains the essence of structure. A personal construct is said to be complex in the extent to which it displays differentiation and integration of the attitudes, values and beliefs of the person . Bieri (1955) introduced the concept of cognitive complexity-simplicity to reflect the idea that the cognitively complex person has more construct dimensions than does the cognitively simple person. In relation to the identity statuses, studies of cognitive complexity indicate that Diffused subjects score as extremely complex; Foreclosed as cognitively simple; and high identity (Achieved and Moratorium) subjects as moderately complex (Cote , 1977;Kirby , 1977;Tzuriel & Klein, 1977).
The reason for the Diffused identity's score of complexity is due to the multitude of loosely connected thought structures maintained by these individuals . 7 Slugoski, Marcia, and Koopman (1984) concluded from the misrepresentation of Diffused subjects as complex that a better construct than cognitive complexity to assess developmental status would be "integrative complexity, " or the extent of connectedness among rules and attitudes of the internal cognitive structures. This makes intuitive sense since the person who has a tightly connected system of rules , values , and attitudes should project a stronger sense of certainty and identity in the social world than one with less internal consistency of values and attitudes . Using the construct of integrative complexity as a basis to assess identity status, the authors hypothesized that Moratorium and Achieved subjects would show more integrative complexity than lower identity Foreclosed and Diffused subjects; that Achieved subjects would attain the highest scores in integrative complexity , and that Diffused and Moratorium subjects would reflect more variability in their scores than any other group. The operationalization of this research question combined three (3) measures: identity status , cognitive complexity, and group behavior of each individual. The results of these psycho-social measurements supported the hypothesis that identity Achieved and Moratorium subjects were more integratively complex than Foreclosed and Diffused subjects . Cognitive rigidity was implied in the Foreclosed subjects ' high scores of rule bound responses ; and impulsive decisionmaking styles of Foreclosed and Diffused subjects were observed in their concrete response patterns of seeking closure quickly to reduce dissonance . In addition , integratively concrete persons were agreeable to salient norms, a quality that 8 research has found in low identity individuals, such as Foreclosed and Diffused, who tend to be externally controlled.
What Slugoski , Marcia, & Koopman's (1984) research contributes is an empirical demonstration that identity formation can be conceived within the context of a structured hierarchy of cognitive functioning. The person 's internal structure, or personal construct system, is revealed through integrative complexity scores obtained by the identity statuses. This approach to assessing the nature of development is what researchers using Piagetian measures wanted to do but failed.
Implications of the findings of this study are that subjects high in identity and integrative complexity should move smoothly through their social worlds selecting various social perspectives that are pertinent to their surroundings and interactions .
On the other hand, those subjects with lower identity statuses and less integrated beliefs and values are more constrained in their modes of interaction and involvement.

Identity and Behavioral, Affective, and Cognitive Correlates
In addition to stable findings of a close alignment between intellectual and ego identity development , other related behavioral, cognitive , and emotional factors have been observed . Recent research investigated decision-making and coping styles adopted by adolescents when negotiat ing personal identity issues (Berzonsky , 1992) . Three distinctive styles were observed and were associated with particular identity statuses. Achieved and Moratorium statuses are information-oriented , i.e., they effortlessly seek out, elaborate and evaluate information before dealing with 9 problems and making decisions ; the Foreclosed use normative-oriented expectations of parents and other significant authority figures ; and the Diffused are avoidant-oriented as they typically procrastinate and try to avoid dealing with problems and decisions. Each style exhibits certain behavioral/emotional/cognitive characteristics. The normative Foreclosed person appears self-conscious because they fear others' criticism (Berzonsky , Trudeau and Brennan, 1987; Thus, only the Achieved 's behavior is predicated on cognitively complex and personally defined content.
Stress management is related both to coping style and identity status.
Information-oriented statuses see stress as manageable ; avoidant-oriented procrastinate and try to escape; and the normative status relies on social author ities to help them. When under stress, people generally cope in one of two ways -an emotion-focus or a problem-focus. Adolescents who are emotion-focused try to get away from emotion while those who are problem-focused find solutions and alternatives to resolve the stress . Debilitative test anxiety is correlated with avoidant-oriented, emotion-focused coping as a Diffused identity tries to run away from the negative emotion they are experiencing. Facilitative test anxiety is correlated with problem-focused coping, an information-oriented style and an Achieved or Moratorium identity status. It is also negatively related to an avoidant/Diffused style. A normative identity, i.e., Foreclosed, is correlated with social-support seeking and tendencies to engage in wishful thinking and detachment. Therefore , both Foreclosed and Diffused identities use an emotionfocused coping style when dealing with stress . This general pattern of' coping by identity' style is consistent for males and females and tends to be comparable to the above descriptions (Berzonsky, 1992).
These findings clearly point out the usefulness of understanding developmental characteristics. Educationa l efforts can respond to potential vulnerabilities of the average developing adolescent. A revised version of the Identity Status Interview (ISi) now offers a test for information processing style since this construct is so widely related to social behaviors of adolescents. Berzonsky ( 1989b) reports the most well-adjusted psychological characteristics such as an information-oriented style , internal locus of control , need for cognition, openness to ideas, and introspectiveness are correlated with an identity Achieved status.
In summary, findings suggest that processing orientation cannot be considered independent from the structural aspects of identity. For example , we know that Achieved and Moratorium individuals in their information-orientation naturally seek out, process, and evaluate self-relevant information when dealing with stressors and decisions. If that information proves useful and effective, it can become crystallized and schematized over time. Such well-integrated and organized self-constructs may then tend to "drive" subsequent processing and problem-solving in a more biased "normative " way (Hansen , 1985;Kihlstrom & Cantor , 1984). Processing orientation or preferences may also be influenced by the extent one's global self-identity is structurally integrated and consolidated. Once personal decisions and commitments have been "achieved ," there may be a tendency for future information processing to become more focused and restricted. Therefore, the personality style of the Achieved individual may appear self-assured and somewhat dogmatic because she has considered all possible alternatives before coming to her conclusion . Although Achieved and Foreclosed individuals may subscribe to the same attitude and appear equally confident of their beliefs , the Foreclosed has probably obtained his through a quicker and less personally meaningful analysis.

Gender Differences
Although there are several stable findings of gender differences related to identity status, the most prominent change has evolved within women 's identity over the recent past two decades. Paterson , Sochting, & Marcia (1992)  to accommodate the man she married ; her first partial resolution of identity was to settle on a sense of her own attractiveness , an image of the man she would marry and whether and/or how many children she would have . Identity, intimacy and generativity could almost happen at once for her, unlike a man. However , after 1976, lifestyle priorities shifted and many late adolescent and young female adults pursued careers in the same way as their male counterparts. Up until the eighties , women found their identity in interpersonal issues, as measured by Marcia's content areas, and men were still finding theirs in the ideological domains. By the 1980's, Bilsker, Schiedel, and Marcia, 1988, found no gender differences in occupation as a predictor of identity status. The thrust for women, however, still needed to be in balancing the interpersonal with identity issues in order for occupational identity to succeed. Women still have more difficulty in achieving a straightforward solution to their identity concerns since they define themselves in so many different ways.
Before 1976, women's status as Foreclosed was adaptive and offered them high self-esteem; and, after 1976, it protected them from the conflict between achievement motivation and fear of success (Orlofsky, 1978) . There remains a societal conflict between expectations and support systems for traditional values and those for self-actualization and achievement values of women. Serious repercussions during these societal transitions have left some women without the strength of interpersonal connection and a lack of commitment to pursue selforiented goals. These women are experiencing diffusion that can become psychologically overwhelming and dangerous , as Josselson noted in her longitudinal study (Josselson , 1988). Therefore, Paterson et. al. (1992) , suggest there are probably two different times a woman may face developmental challenges in an adaptive way -once when she is in her 20's and forecloses on traditional values of family and motherhood as priorities and, another time, when she has 13 completed her family responsibi lities and can accept a psychosocial challenge for herself. A healthy adaptation at this point may be characteristic of Moratorium since she now has time to explore her next phase. Of course , there are women who successfully become Achieved in their twenties and either forego or balance family responsibi I ities.
Identity status research has shown Foreclosed and Achieved women have the highest self-esteem and are more achievement oriented during late adolescence.
They also score higher on academic achievement tests. Achieved and Foreclosed women show higher field independence on perception tasks · (Schenkel, 1975) and conform less in peer pressure situations . It is the,women in committed statuses, i.e., Foreclosed and Achieved, who have a base of security that frees them from external controls. Moratorium women and men have higher anxiety than their Achieved counterparts due to their on-going crisis (Marcia & Friedman, 1970;Schenkel & ' Marcia, 1972;Romano , 1975). Foreclosed men and women have the lowest anxiety because they are socially supported.

Parental Antecedents of Identity
Parental antecedents that correlate with a successfully "Achieved" identity are a ., moderate degree of parent-child connectedness reflected through shared affection and an acceptance of individuality (Grotevant, 1983) . In contrast, weak affectionate bonding with parents and poor communication levels , observed through parental 14 rejection and psychological withdrawal, are thought to provide an insecure or constricted psychological base for self-exploration. These latter symptoms are seen in Diffused individuals. Another possible outcome is when there is extreme affection ( enmeshment) between adolescents and their parents but limited family tolerance for individuality. This condition encourages a Foreclosed identity. Grotevant & Cooper (1985) suggest that the promotion of both individuality and connectedness in the family system provides bases for adolescent exploration in identity, as opposed to either too little or too much cohesion and affection.
Several past studies have identified significant differences among identity statuses in perceived parent-adolescent child-rearing experiences. Markstrom (1992), however, cautiously points to the fact that the research on this topic is correlational in nature and so cannot unequivocally assert that particular socialization styles create a certain effect on adolescent identity formation. But, she also says, the findings are compelling and warrant further attention. In particular , warm and supportive parent-child relations; democratic paternal parenting; minimal to moderate restrictiveness, with freedom to discuss issues with parents, have been shown to be correlated with more advanced identity formation . Orlofsky & Frank (1986) and Josselson (1982) examine early childhood memories as a key to maturation levels at an earlier time of development. Both studies found that higher level identities of College men and women exhibited more developmentally advanced concerns in their early memories than did Foreclosed and Diffused individuals . Identity Achieved subjects of both sexes were found to blend less mature themes of nurturance and security with more mature themes of mastery, competition, and independent activity in their early memories. The use of early memories provides insight into the organization of the individual 's internal character and its concerns; in both these studies, the memories relate to interpersonal relations and achievement , the two cornerstones of a mature identity status.

HYPOTHESES
This study investigates adolescent developmental issues through focusing on specific advances in psycho-social attitudes , intellectual stages, and academic performance. Although it is not hypothesized, gender differences on both developmental and academic levels are also examined and reported . The following hypotheses were proposed : 1) Developmental Hypothesis -Fewer Freshman students are classified in the identity Achieved group than in the Moratorium , Foreclosed and Diffused groups.
2) Cognitive Development Hypotheses -Fewer Freshman students are classified in the higher stages of intellectual development, i.e., relativism and commitment, than in the lower stages of dualism and multiplicity.
A third hypothesis is that fewer low identity students (Foreclosed and Diffused) than high identity students (Achieved and Moratorium) are classified in the high intellectual stages.
3) Academic Performance Hypothesis -Significant differences are expected in academic achievement, i.e., GPA scores, among the four identity statuses after 16 controlling for intelligence , i.e., SAT scores . In particular , Achieved students exhibit significantly higher GPA scores than students in other identity status groups. for classifying the individual into one of four Perry intellectual positions -dualism, multiplicity , relativism or committed relativism. The student is asked to rate statements on their contribution to the learning process using a four point scale .

Subjects
The

Survey Data
Some student surveys were discarded due to poor interpretability of Survey responses. According to the EOM-EIS2 scoring manual, if a student obtains more than two identity subscale scores above their respective cutoff marks , the survey should be discarded . There were five surveys that were discarded for this reason .

Missing Data
Approximately five (5) subjects refused to respond to item #50 about churchattendance and had indicated (in writing) some negative bias in the question or in the wording of the statement. This piece of missing data was replaced by a score equivalent to the average of the other three ideological statements in that grouping .
There were no University records of SAT scores available for 5 students in this sample . Average SAT scores for their assigned group identity status were used to fill in the missing data. The EOM-EIS2 (Adams, Bennion, and Huh, 1989) provides each subject with several scores of interest. For example, for each of the four identity subscales, there are two subscores, one for interpersonal domain statements (related to issues like dating, sexroles, friends), and one for ideological statements (related to occupation, religion, and politics); and then a total identity score that combines ideological and interpersonal subscores. Average "total" scores for identity subscales and related data are computed across the entire sample and shown in TABLE 1. After cutoff marks were applied, there were 10. 7% Achieved (n=13), 9.9% Foreclosed (n=12) ; 57.8% Moratorium (n=70) and 21.2% Diffused (n=26) students.
Insert Table 1 -  The Moratorium status group was the largest and problematic in the extent of surveys classified as "low profile moratorium." This issue is discussed in the next section. 57.8% of the entire sample was rated a Moritorium status . Since Moratorium is considered a high status identity, along with Achieved, this Freshman sample projects an image of well-developed students , perhaps quite dubiously. The Diffused status group was idiosyncratic in that its average combined SAT sco_ re of 1017 was higher than all other statuses while, also in contrast , they scored the lowest average cognitive complexity score (306) of the four identity groups. See   TABLE 3 for summary statistics on each identity status group.

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Insert Table 3 Evaluation of Hypotheses

1) Distribution of Identity Status
A developmental hypothesis predicted significantly fewer students would be rated identity Achieved than any other status . A comparison of proportions between the Achieved status group and each of the other status groups ' proportionate share of the sample showed significant differences between the number of Achieved (.Q = 13) and Moratorium (D = 70) students, z = 7.85, p < .05; and Achieved (D = 13) and Diffused (26) students, z = 1.98, p < .05. However , no significant difference between the Achieved (D = 13) and Foreclosed (D = 12) groups were observed , z = .1538, p > .05. Therefore , although the Achieved group did not have a significantly lower number of students than the Foreclosed identity group, it was not significantly higher either. Nevertheless, the hypothesis that the Achieved status would be smaller in size than each of the other identity groups was not confirmed.
Although gender differences were not predicted, a chi square analysis examined differences among identity statuses by gender. No significant main effects were found , x2 (3) = 5.451 , p > .05. However , two significant differences were found when testing observations of more females in the Achieved status and more male Foreclosed students. A crossbreak analysis , x2 (1) = 6.08, p < .05, using these two 24 identity statuses, revealed significantly more female than male Achieved students and more male than female Foreclosed students. See TABLE 4.
Insert Table 4 - A second cognitive hypothesis predicted fewer low identity students than high Identity students would be classified in the higher cognitive stages. A chi square analysis, x 2 (1) = 4.381, p < .05 revealed a significant difference in occurrence of low identity status in the higher cognitive status levels. See TABLE 5.

3) Identity and Academic Achievement
A developmental hypothesis predicted significant differences in identity status, as measured by adjusted grade point averages (GPA
Although not predicted, gender differences were evaluated using ANCOVA. GPA mean scores were not significantly different between men and women, i.  Table 7 DISCUSSION This sample of Freshman students generally conformed to expectations of the Marcia-and Perry-operationalizations of psycho-social and intellectual development.
That is, there were fewer students categorized in the higher intellectual stages than in the lower ones of dualism and multiplicity . Predictions in status distribution , however , were not confirmed, i.e., there were not significantly fewer Achieved than Foreclosed students. However , this distinction may have been due to the timing of the study, i.e., during second semester rather than first semester. A larger number of Foreclosed than Achieved students may have resulted during an earlier timing of the surveys causing a larger and significant size difference between the Foreclosed (12) and Achieved (13) status groups. It is worth noting that the largest gains in intellectual growth during the college years has been found to occur during the Freshman year, therefore, it is likely that many students were rated in lower identity statuses as well as in academic performance during their first semester. In particular , the Foreclosed status which is seen as reliant on authority figures may have experienced a more significant growth opportunity from the first to the second semester. Furthermore, this particular sample of Foreclosed students are younger than the students in the other identity groups, making this occurrence of growth more likely. Thus, the non-significant differences in size and also in GPA scores 28 between the Achieved group and the others could likely have been significant during first semeste r due to a downward pressure on already lower average second semester GPA scores in these lower status groups .
A more important concern in this samp le's distribution of identity status groups is the 57.8% contribution from the Morator ium status . In particular , it is the very large sub-set (62 out of 70) of Moratorium students classified as "low profile " moratorium that is problematic . The rating of "low pr~file" Moratorium occurs when students use very low ratings (for example, 1,2,3 versus 4,5 ,6) across all subscale items. The total scores for each of the identity subscales , therefore , are also low and do not reach cutoff marks for any of the statuses . Total scores are also not differentiated from one another in a meaningful way . Since Moratorium is categorized as a high identity status , along with the Achieved status, the distribution of high versus low identity status dubiously increases by the number of "low profile " Moratorium students present in the sample. In fact , the student who is rated as a 'low profile ' Moratorium is presumably at the beginning stages of exploration and crisis ( as reflected in the low scores). When examining the sub-scale scores of this group of "low profile " students , there were two detected trends -one was consistently low scores across all subscales , and the other displayed stronger (not far from cut-off) scores in the Achieved and/or Diffused subscales . The latter pattern seemed to reflect either an imminent transition from one stage to the other or an on-going conflict between the two . Disregarding the observed patterns in this sample , the EOM-EIS2 is not differentiating this stage of "low profile " moratorium development 29 well enough from the others. Survey data must be systematically analyzed to understand differences within the Moratorium status and how to discriminate these students more appropriately.

Status characteristics of the individual identity groups, outlined in the Results
Section, demonstrate theoretical construct systems observed in past identity research . For example, the Diffused group's scores of intelligence , achievement and intellectual growth are inconsistent. Although these students showed an unusually high intelligence index as a group , they do not perform at a level consistent with this ability. Their overall intellectual growth, as measured by their average cognitive complexity index (CCI) is lower than other less competent groups .
In order to move forward intellectually , one must actively construct the world around him. Kelly (1955) explained his "personal construct system" by equating the individual to a scientist who observes and begins to learn how certain events and people work. As he observes, he internally changes his construction of people or situations, by adding new material and/or altering old information . Over time, his constructions become so well-defined and integrated he can quickly understand other related new and unusual information. Both Kelly (1955) and Bieri (1958) would call this ability that each of us has as cognitive simplicity-compl _ exity. In contrast , although the Diffused group may possess many abilities and knowledge , they have not used them to construct a functionally complex internal world. Their knowledge is not interconnected with the outer world of people and situations , therefore, they have little success in attaining externa l goals e.g. their low academic achievement and their diffused identity type. Slugoski et al., 1984, would assess them as "integratively simple " because, although they have multiple dimensions from which to draw and attain certain goals or make decisions, they choose not to integrate these abilities . Bieri (1958) would probably still see them as cognitively complex even though this does not help in understanding why their overall performance is low when compared with other identity groups .
In a sense, Marcia 's designation of a Diffused group addresses the integrative aspect of functionally successful individuals such as those found in the identity Achieved group. Diffusion in terms of an identity crisis is the inability to experience ambiguity in order to make sense of it, while Achievement is the willingness to experience the disorder only to "achieve" a systematic perspective on it. These students are also Diffused because they choose not to explore or make commitments (Marcia, 1989). It is interesting that both psycho-social and intellectual growth are equally low. The interaction of these two variables describe the ego capabilities that Freud deems necessary to adapt to life crises at each maturational stage. It appears that some of these students have not achieved requisite abilities in earlier developmental stages to master the adolescent transition to adulthood.
However, many of these students may be internally readying themselves for changes that are not yet demonstrated in this measurement. Marcia (1989) has identified at least three sub groups of Diffused adolescents. One of them is based on normal developmental transitions.

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Another indication of differences between Diffused and Achieved students , related to adaptive socio-cognitive skills, is their interpersonal subscores on the EOM-EIS2 . The identity Achieved students ' scores on both interpersonal and ideological domain statements were significantly related to their total Achieved identity scores . Their average scores were 40 .23 and 38.84, respectively. The Diffused students, on the other hand, scored much lower on their interpersonal subscores, i.e., 25.92 versus 30.38 on their ideological subscores . Furthermore, their ideological score correlated significantly with their total Diffused identity at . 79 (t = 6.39 , p < .01) while their interpersona l subscore was not significantly correlated at .20 (t = .998, p > .05) with their total Diffused identity. As reported in the Results Section, Achieved students ' interpersonal subscore was significantly correlated , .87 (t = 5.89, p < .01 ), with their total identity Achieved score, as was their ideological subscore correlation of .65 (t = 2.80, p < .02). In comparison with the Achieved status, both Moratorium and Foreclosed subscores were low. However, the Foreclosed interpersonal and ideological subscores significantly intercorrelated .71 (t = 3.16, p < .05) and .67 (t = 2.89, p < .05), respectively , with their total identity .

See TABLE 2.
An interesting phenomenon is presented in this high interpersonal score correlation of Foreclosed identity students. Berzonsky (1992) describes the coping and decision style of Foreclosed individuals as "normative." This means they depend on externals in times of need and all information is derived in a "shorthand " fashion because it is based on social norms and rules that may change and so are 32 not worth thinking about. When a crisis comes along , the Foreclosed are known to become detached or seek the help of authority figures. They are prone to wishful thinking perhaps because they often find themselves 'saved ' from negative circumstances by more powerful people. Their average CCI score of 324 is moderate but closer to dualism than relativism. Dualism reflects simplistic thought processes which are concretely defined, e.g., black versus white. Their GPA (performance) score, 2.39 , and SAT (intelligence), 978, are lower than the other groups. Furthermore, both Foreclosed and Diffused groups are considered lower identity statuses that have been observed to use an emotion-focused coping style under stress. The two groups are also known to experience debilitative test anxiety more than Achieved and Moratorium students, who seem to experience facilitative test anxiety. (Berzonsky , 1992) This anxiety , especially in the self-conscious Foreclosed group, may have contributed to the very low performance in SAT and GPA scores . Nevertheless, the Foreclosed demonstrate lower capability in both psycho-social and cognitive challenges , and it is the interaction of personal and cognitive skills that produces functional achievement. A closer examination is needed to understand the Foreclosed student.
The Foreclosed is a lower identity status because there has been no exploration from which informed decisions and comm itments can be made . Decisions are made by significant others for these students. Any of the stress involved in the process of decision-making is eliminated as well as the diverse experiences and interpersonal and other skills that come when one is seeking out information through new jobs, 33 recreation activities and acquaintances. Berzonsky (1992) remarks that the Foreclosed have a tendency to cut off core aspects of the self such as beliefs and value systems. The idea of a person's identity as an internal system of beliefs and values is related to the personal construct system Kelly ( 1955) suggests defines the person over time. However, some people have simple identities and others have more complex ones. If one is not an "intuitive scientist " (Kelly, 1955), one cannot adapt effectively within environmental and social contexts to self-relevant problems than are encountered (Berzonsky , 1989b ). Each event and situation cannot be compared or reasoned from other preceding ones . It takes longer and is more anxiety provoking when making changes and new commitments . Foreclosed people who rely on others for help are less open to new ideas, are rigid (Slugoski, Marcia, & Koopman, 1984 ), and are externally controlled as opposed to Achieved individuals who have an internal locus of control (Adams & Shea, 1979). Interpersonal skills for Foreclosed individuals do not involve mutuality through which each individual benefits .
Therefore, although the data from this study suggests that Foreclosed students are interpersonally defined , via their high intercorrelation of interpersonal scores with total identity, it is on a level (their scores were very low) which is not enriching to the person 's internal cognitive structure of attitudes , beliefs, and values . Their relationships with others and the externa l world are based on socially defined structures , not mutual or empowering experiences. Their personal construct system remains simple and restrictive.
In conclusion , socio-cognitive skills, that are developed through interpersonal experiences, are the source of one's sense of identity (including skills and achievements) that is continuous over time and contexts. That identity can be selfor other controlled and can lead to high achievement that builds self-esteem or can box people into lives that are controlled by powerful "others." It has been found in prior research that identity Achieved individuals are more open to new ideas, internally controlled and achievement oriented. They also value interpersonal experiences which help them in their sense of empowerment and self-mastery . The examination of this sample of Freshman students has produced evidence for these findings.

Summary & Conclusions
The present study examined relationships among adult identity ( as theorized in Erikson's adolescent identity crisis) , cognitive development , and achievement in late adolescence. Significant relationships were observed wherein a high identity status was significantly related to a high cognitive status and high academic achievement (GPA). Theory suggests that cognitive complexity , a construct first defined by Kelly (1955) and Bieri (1958) , is at the core of advanced levels of adult identity in that individuals with complex value and belief systems are able to negotiate diverse challenges and, so, 'achieve ' a more distinct identity than those with a restricted range of internal constructs . Furthermore, more recent research has shown evidence that parental antecedents which encourage individuality and self-mastery during childhood are significantly related to advanced identity statuses at late 35 adolescence. Therefore, at late adolescence, adult identity is the level of "sociocognitive" skills, i.e. the integration of cognitive skills and psycho-social experience, which were nurtured throughout childhood.
The findings resulting from this investigation are limited in their generalization to other populations for several methodological reasons: subjects were not randomly sampled; sample size is too small for the number of variables analyzed -4 stages of cognitive development, 4 stages of psycho-social development, GPA, and SAT scores; and lastly, analyses of group differences were not based on equal size groups. However, this latter issue of group size equality was not possible or even reasonable considering the developmental issues being studied. It is also not advisable to use methods that are designed to compensate for this feature ( of unequal cell size) because the groups were experimentally formed. Since assumptions for ANCOVA were not violated, a replication of this study using a larger, randomly selected sample would help resolve the reliability of these findings.  Note. Correlation co-efficients compute relationships for each group 's subscale scores with that group's "total identity" scores, e.g. interpersonal subscale scores for Achieved students correlate at .871 with their "total identity'' scores.

Sampling Procedures
The sample employed by Moore( 1987)consisted of 725 students from several different kinds of institutions ; a medium sized regional public research university (n=46) ; a small selective public university (n=275) ; a small public , comprehensive college (n=177) ;two similar medium-sized comprehensive state universities (n=68) ; a public community college(n=36) ;an honors program at a small liberal arts college(n=57) ; and an honors program at a large public research university (n=66) . The total sample reflected a sex and classification breakdown as follows : 47% men 53% women; 38% freshmen, 34% sophomores , 10% juniors, and 18% seniors .
The entire sample was only used for the item factor analysis. The factor analysis of the LEP items was to determine whether, and to what extent , the LEP seems to be measuring underlying constructs corresponding to the Perry positions 2 through 5. Other aspects of validation used only one or more of the specific subsamples noted above.
Samples were not drawn randomly but were taken instead from intact groups , classroom-based in all cases except one sample of Freshmen tested during orientation .

Scoring Procedures
Respondents were asked to rate on a 4-point Likert scale all of the items within each domain or content category . The major scoring index, the Cognitive Complexity Index (CCI), incorporates all of the individual 's most significant responses into its score, so as to reflect a more complex composite of the person 's reasoning. Thus , from the 65 items on the test only 15 are actually rated and contribute to the individual 's final score , i.e., the three top choices within each of the five domains .
To convert the ratings into Perry positions 2,3,4 or 5, a certain number of points are attributed to first, second, and third choices in each doma in. First choice equals 3 points ; second choice is 2 points and third choice equals 1 point. Using an Answer Key, each test item the student rates in the top 15 items is translated into a Perry position and a score of 1, 2, or 3 is associated with it. To tally the total number of points for each Perry position ,a sub-score for each Perry position is computed. An arbitrary example follows in Table 1 : Percentages are then calculated for each position based on its proportion of the total number of points of the test. These proportion are 0%, 23% , 46 .7% and 30%, respectively for positions 2, 3, 4, and 5. Therefore , in computing the final 45 score for this example , using the CCI Index formula below , position 2 contributes no points ; position 3 contributes 69.9 points; position 4 provides 186.8 points and position 4 is equal to 150 points . This computation generates a total of 407 points.

Sampling and Scoring Procedures
The following cut-off marks, for the Bennion and Adams(1986) EOMEIS2 for College age subjects , will be used to categorize students into appropriate ego identity statuses as indicated bv their test scores. The researcher can utilize raw subscale scores,as listed below under Ideological and Interpersonal Identity, and/or the Tota l Reference Manual (Adams, Bennion, & Huh, 1989) .
"""'Guidance for deciding which total identity applies is offered by Adams , Bennion, & Kuh, 1989, p.24  1) Use up-to-date textbooks and materials and teach from them, not ignore them.
2) Teach me all the facts and information I am supposed to learn .
3) Give clear directions and guidance for all course activities and assignments.

4)
Have only a minimal role in the class , turning much of the control of course content and class discussions over to the students .

5)
Be not just an instructor, but more an explainer, entertainer and friend.
6) Recognize that learning is mutual;__ individual class members contribute to the teaching and learning in the class. 1 ) Study and memorize the subject matter -the teacher is there to teach it.
2) Take good notes on what's presented in class and reproduce that information on the tests.
3) Enjoy having my friends in the class , but other than that classmates don't add much to what I would get from the class . 1) Be organized and well-structured-there should be clear expectations set (like a structured syllabus that's followed).
2) Consist of lectures(with a chance to ask questions) because I can get all the facts I need to know more efficiently that way.
3) Include specific, detailed instructions for all activities and assignments.
4) Focus on step by step procedures so that if you did the procedure correctly each time your answer would be correct. 9) Be practiced and internalized but be balanced by group experimentation, intuition, comprehension, and imagination.
10) Consist of a seminar format, providing an exchange of ideas so that I can critique my own perspectives on the subject matter.
55 11 ) Emphasize discussions of personal answers based on relevant evidence rather than just right and wrong answers.
12) Be an intellectual dialogue and debate among a small group of peers motivated to learn for the sake of learning.
13) Include lots of projects and assignments with practical, everyday applications.
Please be sure to Review the above List and Mark Your Three Most Significant Items (By Item Number) in the Lines Provided on the Answer Sheet. 2) Be up to the teacher , since she knows the material best.
3) Consist of objective-style tests because they have clearcut right or wrong answers .
4) Be based on how much students have improved in the class and on how hard they have worked in class .

5)
Provide an opportunity for me to judge my own work along with the teacher and learn from the critique at the same time.
6) Not include grades, since there aren't really any objective standards teachers can use to evaluate students ' thinking . 7) Include grading by a prearranged point system (homework , participation , tests , etc.), since I think it seems the most fair .

8) Represent a synthesis of internal and external opportun ities for judgment and
learning enhancing the quality of the class . 9) Consistent of thoughtful criticism of my work by someone with appropriate expertise .
10) Emphasize essay exams, papers , etc. rather than objective-style tests so that I can show how much I've learned.
57 11 ) Allow students to demonstrate that they can think on their own and make connections not made in class.
12) Include judgments of the quality of my oral and written work as a way to enhance my learning in the class .
13) Emphasize independent thinking by each student , but, include some focus on the quality of one 's arguments and evidence .
Please be sure to Review the above List and Mark Your Three Most Significant

Items (By Item Number) in the Lines Provided on the Answer Sheet.
Rating Scale: 1 Not at all