Identity Status and Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between identity status and anxiety through techniques of meta-analysis. Early research on identity status and anxiety showed elevated anxiety scores for those in the moratorium status and low anxiety scores among those in the foreclosure status. Later studies reported some gender differences in anxiety scores for particular identity statuses. A total of 565 empirical identity status studies conducted between 1966 and 2005 were identified from PsycINFO, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, and Dissertation Abstracts International using the following search terms: “identity status,” “identity and Marcia,” “identity and Marcia's,” and “ego identity.” Some 27 of these studies addressed the relationship between identity status and general anxiety; only 12 of these 27 investigations (N = 1,124 participants, primarily university students) provided data that could be examined through techniques of meta-analysis. Effect size differences in anxiety scores for each pair of identity statuses for each gender were determined. Results showed anxiety scores for the identity statuses to be in generally predicted directions, although some gender differences occurred.