Relations among Parental Divorce, Identity Status, and Coping Strategies of College Age Women

Abstract

Relations among parental divorce, identity status, and coping strategies were examined in a sample of emerging adult women. Two hundred forty college age women between the ages of 18 and 23 were asked to report whether they had experienced parental divorce and were administered the Coping Strategies Inventory and the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-II. Correlational analyses indicated that identity diffusion in the interpersonal domain was associated with emotion focused coping strategies, whereas identity achievement in both sets of domains was associated with greater use of problem focused coping strategies. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that, for both the ideological and interpersonal identity domains, divorce was positively related to emotion focused coping and negatively related to both diffusion and foreclosure. Tests of mediation did not produce any significant mediating pathways for either domain. These findings are discussed in relation to current research and practice implications for intervening with emerging adults.