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Extended Abstract
Introduction: The study of identity is the investigation of how individuals and groups respond to the question of “Who are you?” (Vignoles, Schwartz, & Luyckx, 2011). In this relation, Marcia achieved four identity states: identity diffusion (low exploration, low commitment), which indicates indifference and unwillingness to identify issues; identity foreclosure (low exploration, high commitment), which signifies dogmatic and conformity in identity formation; identity moratorium (high exploration, low commitment), which expresses the active pursuit of one’s sense; and the identity achievement (high exploration, high commitment) that signifies the integration of different elements of self in a coherent and unified identity (Marcia, 1966).
One of the concepts that used to explain how identity is constructed at the individual and social levels is the concept of social capital (SC) (Côté, 1997; Coleman, 1993). He believes that social capital is the density of social bonds and their ability to enforce norms. He also views social capital as a level of trust and interactions between members of society that can exist both horizontally (at one level) and vertically (between individuals, groups, and institutions).
On the other hand, Ericsson (1968) in this regard points out that the formation of a cohesive identity is influenced by a sense of agency, autonomy or freedom in choice (Erikson, 1968). Agentic personality refers to a person’s sense of responsibility in his or her life. This belief that everybody has control over his/her personal decisions, and they are responsible for their outcomes ensuring that they will be able to overcome obstacles that hinder their progress throughout their lives (Côté & Levine, 2014; Schwartz, Côté, & Arnett, 2005).
According to the concept of agency, humans are active moral agents that are capable of controlling themselves and their environment. Therefore, researchers agree that it is very important to enhance the ability of these ethical agents to deal with ethical implications (Pedersen, 2009). Besides, studies have shown a positive relationship between normative and informative identity styles and a negative relationship between identity/avoidance style and moral intelligence (Aalbehbahani, 2015; Faramarzi, Jahanian, Zarbakhsh, Salehi, & Pasha, 2014).
In addition, various studies have pointed to the role of personality in predicting psychological capital (PsyCap) (Avey, 2014; Choi & Lee, 2014). Psychological capital consists of four components of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience, and it is associated with identity in various forms (Bernstein & Volpe, 2016; Norman, Avey, Nimnicht, & Graber Pigeon, 2010; Qiu et al., 2019; Wang, Tsai, Tsai, Huang, & de la Cruz, 2018).
Accordingly, it can be said that the researchers sought to investigate the relationship between different forms of identity with agentic personality, moral intelligence, social capital, and psychological capital.
Method: This study is descriptive and correlational research. 633 undergraduate students studying in different universities in Tehran were selected by Multi-stage cluster sampling method in the academic year of 2018-2019, and they completed the research tools including Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status II (EOM-EIS-II((Bennion & Adams, 1986), Multi-measure Agentic Personality Scale (MAPS) (Côté, 1997), the Social Capital Measurement Questionnaire) (Lennick & Kiel, 2007), Moral Competency Inventory (MCI) (Lennick & Kiel, 2007) and Psychological Capital Intervention (PCI) (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007). The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression implementing SPSS-24 software.
Findings: The mean and standard deviation of participants’ age were 22.10 and 3.28, of which 315 (49.8%) were male and 318 (50.2%) were female. Furthermore, 583 (92.1%) of the sample members were single and the rest were married. Findings showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between achievement and moratorium identity states with personality agency, moral intelligence, social capital, and psychological capital. Besides, these variables positively and significantly predicted the achievement and moratorium identity states. Conversely, the relationship between identity diffusion and these variables was negative. In relation to foreclosure identity, only social capital and psychological capital were found to be positively and significantly related to the variable.
Discussion: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of agentic personality, social capital, moral intelligence, and psychological capital in predicting identity states. The findings of the present study are in line with the studies that have investigated the relationship between identity dimensions with agentic personality, social capital, moral intelligence and psychological capital (Aalbehbahani, 2015; Bernstein & Volpe, 2016; Christoforou, 2012; Côté & Schwartz, 2002; Faramarzi et al., 2014; Norman et al., 2010; Qiu et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2018). According to the findings of this study, it can be stated that different identity states have different relationships with individual (personality agency, moral intelligence, and psychological capital) and social (social capital) constructs according to different levels of identity crisis and sense of commitment to personal identity.
Ethical Considerations:
Authors’ contributions
All authors contributed in producing of the research.
Funding
In the present study, all expenses were borne by the authors and they did not have any sponsors.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments:
In this article, all rights relating to references are cited and resources are carefully listed
Type of Study:
orginal |
Received: 2019/12/2 | Accepted: 2020/09/22 | Published: 2021/03/14
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