Emerging commitments in middle adolescence: content analysis and possible antecedents

Macek, P., Bouša, O, Tyrlík, M., Sokoliová, M. , & Ježek, S. Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family, Faculty

of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Introduction

• The main focus of our presentation is to show a picture of emerging commitments of 17 year-old Czech adolescents. Why “emerging commitments”?

• Since it is middle adolescence, commitments are just starting.

• We start to study commitments in the context of our longitudinal research. These data are based on individual interviews with respondents and their parents collected in the age of 8, 11, 13, 15, 17. Respondents will ask again about their commitments in the age of 19.

Structure of our presentation

• Very briefly about the concept and conceptualization of commitment (the key psychological construct for us).

• A description of expressed identity and manifested commitment of 17 year-old adolescents (data from the last wave of longitudinal research)

• Subgroups (clusters) based on manifested commitments

(preliminary results). Profiles and differences between the clusters (in regard to variables regarding parents, peers, and self).

Commitment

Following the concept of identity development (Erikson, 1968) and identity statuses (Marcia, 1966), many authors consider identity as a process of exploration and commitment formation in different domains of life. However, what is commitment?

Commitment in social sciences

The term of commitment is very frequent and it is widely used in social sciences, however, it is not clearly or consistently formulated (Burke & Reitzes, 1991).

Commitment as expressing and maintaining (social) activity:Commitment can express how individuals initiate and sustain lines of

activity (Foote, 1951). Playing roles without identity is empty behavior, without a motive or incentive, one's full commitment to one's identity is necessary for an active self. The active self rates a link between the individual and social structure (as persistent lines of action). Therefore, commitment plays a central role in the connection between the individual and society (Foote, 1951).

Commitment in social sciences

Commitment as a choice or decision-makingBecker (1960) distinguished the outcome of commitment (consistent

lines of action) from commitment mechanisms or processes which he called side bets. The committed person, by invoking side bets, "has acted in such a way as to involve other interests of his” (Becker 1960, p. 35).

Commitment as an engagementCommitment also refers to individuals’ willingness to give their

energy and loyalty to a community: "In sociological terms, commitment means the attachment of the self to the requirements of social relations that are seen as self-expressive" (Kanter, 1972, p. 66)

Commitment in social sciences

Commitment as identification with social rolesCommitment was used by McCall and Simmons

(1966) and Stryker (1968, 1980) as one of the ways in which individuals infuse self and subjective meanings into their roles. When an individual is committed, he/she gambles his regard for himself on living up to his self-conception.

Psychological conceptualization of commitment

Psychological definitions of commitment reflect more or less the aspects presented above on individual and subjective levels.

For instance, according to J. Marcia, commitment refers to „the degree of personal investment in the individual exhibits“(Marcia, 1966, p. 551; similarly Marcia, 1980).

Commitments also refer to what the person values in different domains of life (Kunnen, Sappa, van Geert & Bonica, 2008)

However, we see a lack of more precise psychological definitions of commitment.

Psychological conceptualization of commitment

• H. Bosma (1985) and H. Grotevand (1987) shifted developmental thinking about commitment.

• They conceptualize identity formation (including making commitments) as a process of person–context interactions or transactions.

• Recently, several authors (e.g., Adams & Marshall, 1996; Bosma & Kunnen, 2001; Beyers & Goosens, 2008; Kroger, 2000, 2004; Kunnen, Bosma, & van Geert, 2001; Luyckx_, Goossens, Soenens & Beyers, 2006) stress and elaborate ideas of a process and context-oriented approach.

Psychological conceptualization of commitment

• Identity development, in general, can be seen as the complex of changes in strength and quality of commitments (Bosma & Kunnen, 2001).

• The presence of commitment and the strength and quality of commitments are seen as separate aspects (Bosma, 1985, 1992).

However, how to conceptualize and how to measure the strength of commitment?

The strength of commitment – how to measure it

• Directly, we can ask about it - if it is expressed by individual, it is the subjective strength of commitment

• Indirectly, on the basis of a more complex assessment of the individual (his/her action, behavior, on the basis of his/her communication about everyday life experiences, his/her future expectations, plans etc. – it is (more or less) “working”, manifested commitment

Ad 2:

Description of expressed identity and manifested commitment

The main goal of our study is to describe how adolescents achieve their identity at the age of 17, which commitments they present.

• First, we describe “expressed identity” as the presented level of their commitments and their identity exploration in different domains of their life.

• Second, we present “manifested commitment” based on more complex expert’s assessments.

Participants

• The sample consists of 218 adolescents at the age of 17 (105 boys, 112 girls). These respondents continuously take part in the longitudinal research.

• Respondents were born in 1991-1992, individual interviews and tests, in the age of 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, (19, 21…..?). At present, more than 500 „active“ respondents.

• Project ELSPAC (European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood) was based as an international longitudinal epidemiological study whose aim is to identify the current risks for a child’s healthy and optimal development, as well as to propose the way of preventing them.

Measure and procedure

• The adopted Czech version of Groningen Identity Development Scale (GIDS) was used (for original version see Bosma, 1985; for Czech version Konečná, Neusar, Sokoliová, & Macek, in press).

• This adopted instrument measures the identity in six areas:school and future occupation leisure time, friendship,partner (romantic) relationships,life-world-society.

• It is based on a semi-structured interview exploring specific areas of life (1st step), on writing down relevant commitments (2nd step), and on the assessment of selected commitment (3rd step).

Regarding assessments of the achieved level of identity, participants answered a questionnaire that measures:

• the strength of formulated commitment (8 items, Cronbach alpha ,60)

• and the amount of exploration (three items, Cronbach’s alpha .50), separately for each area presented above.

Strength of commitment

• Are you doing anything for that?• Does this commitment give you the feeling that you

know what you want to do with your life?• Could you easily give this commitment up?• Do you think you will keep this commitment in the

future?• Do you defend your commitment when others don´t

agree?• Could you change your mind about your commitment?• Are you absolutelly sure about this commitment?

Amount of exploration

• Do you think about this topic?• Are you intereted in what others think about

this topic?• Do you talk with others about this topic?

Other measurements in the age of 17

Computer-administered methods:• Self-esteem• Identity styles inventory• Peer attachment style questionnaire• Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale• Parenting styles questionnaire• Inventory of risk behavior¨• Dating Questionnaire• Sexual activities• Depressive symptomatology• Coping styles in different domains• Body satisfaction• Political orientations• Implicite Association Test – gender stereotypes• “Cake of Fear” • Observational schedule Adolescent – take-home:• Vocational plans

Results

3,183,08

3,19 3,193,08

3,15

2,45

2,26 2,29 2,272,40

2,11

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

4,0

School Leisure time Friendship Partnership Life, World, Society Parents

Mea

n

Areas

Expressed commitment and exploration Strength of commitment

Amount of Exploration

Expressed commitment and exploration:

It is evident that strength of commitment is very similar for all reported domains of life.

In regard to the amount of exploration, we see more differences. As paired t-tests show, the exploration in the area of relationships with parents is lower compared to other areas.

Manifested commitments

• In addition to respondent’s assessment of exploration and commitments, we used also experts’ assessment of commitments. The commitments were assessed by two experts after viewing and carefully analyzing video recordings of the interviews. Experts assessed how the commitments are manifested in each domain of life

• They assessed as non-manifested commitment if the identified domain

was presented as not important for the respondent and he/she did not express during the interview any activities and personal interest (he/she expressed non-commitment, opinion only).

• They signed as partially manifested commitment when the individual presented active participation concerning his/her interest – as a personally important value. That is, he/she was willing to do something for it.

• The third signed stage is manifested commitment. It means that he/she is involved, he/she presented relevant activities, it has a high subjective importance and he/she is taking responsibility for it.

2,311,5

1,8

36,6 39,2

4,2

37,625,7

19,7

41,8 35,5

33,8

60,1 62,8

78,4

21,6 25,3

62,0

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

School Leisure time Friendship Partnership Life, World, Society Parents

Perc

ent

Areas

Manifestation of commitmentsManifested commitmentPartly manifested (attitude)Non-manifested (opinion)

Correlations of expressed commitments and exploration and manifested commitments

Manifested commitment

ExpressedSchool Leisure Friendship Partner Society Parents

Commitment .081 .294 .050 .175 .231 .352

Exploration .218 .045 .077 -.332 .102 .073

Typology (clusters) based on manifested commitments

School Leisure Friendship Partner Society ParentsN. of respondents

1 2.14 1.36 2.89 1.64 1.22 2.56 36

2 2.32 2.25 1.96 1.43 1.57 1.86 28

3 2.85 2.97 2.96 1.32 1.86 2.78 73

4 2.65 2.71 2.86 2.65 2.24 2.71 72

Final clusters solution (means for manifested commitments, number of members)

Typology (clusters) based on manifested commitments

2,14

2,32

2,85

2,65

1,36

2,25

2,97

2,71

2,89

1,96

2,962,86

1,64

1,431,32

2,65

1,22

1,57

1,86

2,24

2,56

1,86

2,782,71

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

3,50

1 2 3 4

Mea

n

Subgroups (clusters) based on manifested commitments

SchoolLeisureFriendshipPartnerSocietyParents

PARENTS

Contrast of 1st and 3rd types:1st: lower trust, lower communication, hihger alienation3rd : higher trust, higher communication, lower alienation

Cluster Number of Case

IPPA - 15 - Trust IPPA - 15 - Communication IPPA - 15 - Alienation

F Sig. F Sig. F Sig.4,403 ,006 2,971 ,034 5,649 ,001

Mean Std. Deviation Mean Std. Deviation Mean Std. Deviation1 3,77 0,74 3,21 0,75 2,91 0,74

2 4,06 0,66 3,56 0,80 2,61 0,74

3 4,34 0,44 3,77 0,68 2,27 0,58

4 4,24 0,71 3,55 0,71 2,32 0,62

Total 4,20 0,62 3,61 0,73 2,41 0,67

Parents

Identity styles

4th – more diffused oriented2nd – less normative oriented1st - informationally and normative oriented

Cluster Number of Case

inform diffus normativeF Sig. F Sig. F Sig.2,712 ,048 4,557 ,005 3,519 ,017

MeanStd.

Deviation MeanStd.

Deviation MeanStd.

Deviation1 3,53 0,54 2,89 0,54 3,00 0,342 3,18 0,52 2,86 0,60 2,59 0,643 3,50 0,48 2,59 0,52 2,92 0,564 3,56 0,62 2,40 0,53 2,65 0,50

Total 3,47 0,54 2,62 0,56 2,80 0,56

General conclusion

• Compared to expressed commitments, manifested commitments present higher inter-individual variability.

• Manifested commitments are related to possible antecedents (relationships with parents, identity styles).

• As preliminary results show, these relations are more evident than relationships expressed commitments (subjective strength of commitment)