The Study of the Relationship between Normative and
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, April-June 2018, Vol.9, No. 2 107 two levels of performance and base 7. Preventing the
diseases and mental and behavioral disorders in student life is important and can be achieved by promoting the psychological wellbeing of the students. Wellbeing has preoccupied scholars’ mind for centuries and recently it has been focused in a branch of psychology called positive psychology.
Positive psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning and focuses on how human and his abilities are flourishing8. Psychological well-being is defined as growth of real talents of the people8. According to the Ericsson’s theory identity styles are one of the parameters influencing psychological well-being and mental health 9. Berzonsky and Kuk (2005) believe that identity style refers to the solutions that people use when decision making and problem solving and analyze their personal information. When encountering the information that do not adapt with the self-concept, they can review their behaviors and ideas and accept the new concepts. Brozownsky raises three identity styles including informative identity style, normative identity style and diffuse - avoidant identity10.
Informative identity style: It refers to people who achieve a sense of identity through active searching and evaluating information on themselves. These people test, review and adapt their identity structure with the new information and conditions when encountering with the different information. This style is characterized by active self-exploration, informative decision-making, autonomy in judgment, high levels of cognitive complexity and high requirement for recognition.
Furthermore, these people successfully cope with the stress and anxiety and use the problem-focused coping11. Normative identity style: It refers to the people who internalize the standards of authority and other important people and coordinate with them12. They are conservative towards the data that threatening their beliefs and values and flexibly accept the occupational, religious and family values and seek to defend them and to be committed to these values11. Ericsson defines identity as the organizing fundamental principle that evolves over the life, gives people a sense of the continuous self-interaction with others (self-similarity), and provides a framework for distinguishing self and others (integrity) 13. Achieving identity helps people to grow a sense of true intimacy as the main adulthood concern14. Habibipour et al in a study entitled ‘The relationship between the differentiation of
self and psychological well-being’ found that the early family relationships lead to the formation of higher levels of differentiation and this initial experience directly affects psychological well-being in adulthood15, 16.
MeThOd
This is a descriptive correlational study. Statistical population consisted of all 2000 students of Valiasr University of Rafsanjan who reside in the dormitories, of whom, 320 students from eight dormitories were selected using the single-stage randomized cluster sampling.
ReSeARCh TOOlS
Identity Style Inventory (ISI): This questionnaire was developed in 1989 and consists of 40 items, based on the five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree and measures four informational styles:
informative, normative and diffuse - avoidant identity.
The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by White et al. (1998) using confirmatory factor analysis17. Differentiation of self questionnaire: This questionnaire was designed and administered in 1998 by Skowron and Friedlander with 43 items.Then, in 2003, it was revised by Skowron and Smith and the final questionnaire was developed by Jackson with 46 items and four factors based on Bowen’s theory. Skowron and Smith (2003) showed the high reliability and validity of this questionnaire. Reliability of its revised form was 0.92 using Cronbach’s alpha for the total scale18.
Psychological Well-being Questionnaire: This questionnaire was developed in 1989 by Reef, consisting of 84 items and 6 factors. Items are scored based on a six-point scale; 47 items are directly scored and 37 items are inversely scored. For measuring the validity of the questionnaire, its relationship with the measurements of the personality traits that were also regarded as the psychological well-being index such as the Bradburn’s emotional balance, Newcarton’s life satisfaction and Rosenberg’s self-esteem were used. Correlational results of Reef test was acceptable with each of the above scales;
therefore, it construct validity was confirmed. Cronbach alpha in Reef test was as follows: self-acceptance as 0.93, positive relations with others as 0.91, autonomy as 0.86, environmental mastery as 0.90, purpose in life as 0.90 and personal growth as 0.87 12.
108 Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, April-June 2018, Vol.9, No. 2
ReSulTS
Table 1: descriptive statistics
K-S K-S
Kurtosis Skewness
Sd Mean
Variable
0.008 0.060
0.285 0.174
5.57530 38.775
Informative identity style
0.000 0.077
0.316 0.418
4.91289 32.4125
Normative identity style
0.003 0.064
0.114 0.422
15.34591 170.7875
Differentiation of self
0.000 0.086
0.298 0.409
42.22416 3146875
Psychological well-being
Table 2: correlation
r Pearson correlation
coefficient Psychological Sig
well-being PC Pearson
correlation coefficient Differentiation of Sig
variables self
0.303**
0.000 0.078
0.163 Informative identity style
0.305**
0.000 0.132*
0.018 Normative identity style
Table 3: Regression of differentiation of self
R2 = 0.061 P = 0.000
F = 5.154 Differentiation of self
Beta Sig
B variables
0.1 0.141
0.274 Informative identity style
0.23 0.001
0.718 Normative identity style
Table 4: regression of psychological well-being
R2= 0.338 P= 0.000
F= 40.230 psychological well-being
Beta Sig
B variables
0.027 0.638
0.202 Informative identity style
0.078 0.180
0.674 Normative identity style
The above table shows Sig value is higher than 0.05 among the variables of informative identity style and normative identity style with differentiation of self, therefore, it is concluded that there is no linear relationship between these variables and psychological well-being.
dISCuSSION ANd CONCluSION As shown in Table 2, Pearson correlation is used for investigating relationship between informative identity styles and self-differentiation. The results indicate the correlation between informative identity style and differentiation of self (0.078). Since the obtained Sig for correlation between variables is 0.163 and since Sig is higher than 0.05, there is no significant relationship between these two variables and therefore, research
hypothesis is rejected. Moreover, as shown in Table 2, Pearson correlation for analyzing the relationship between normative identity styles shows the level of differentiation of self. Results show that there is a correlation between normative identity style and differentiation of self (0.132). Since the obtained Sig for the correlation between variables is 0.018, therefore, there is a significant relationship between normative identity style and differentiation of self and research hypothesis is confirmed. Jamshidi and Sarvghad (2015) conducted a study on 336 non-profit high school students in Shiraz and found that there is a significant negative relationship between the informative and normative identity styles with differentiation of self 19. Skian and Changizi (2015) revealed that there was no significant relationship between differentiation of self and informative identity style 2. Amirbegloui et al. (2015) in
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, April-June 2018, Vol.9, No. 2 109 a study entitled ‘Emotional maturity and identity styles
of the students with a sample of 200 psychology students of Islamic Azad University of Roodhen concluded that there is an inverse and significant relationship between total score of the emotional maturity and informative and normative identity styles. There was an inverse and significant relationship between informative identity style with all five components of emotional maturity, and normative identity style with four components of emotional instability, emotional return, social dysfunction, and personality collapse. There was an inverse and significant relationship between diffuse - avoidant identity styles and emotional return and there was a direct and significant relationship between diffuse - avoidant identity styles and social maladjustment and lack of autonomy and there was an inverse significant relationship between commitment style and personality collapse. Personality collapse and emotional instability could predict informative identity style and three components of emotional return, social maladjustment and lack of autonomy explained the changes in normative identity style and diffuse - avoidant identity styles. Personality collapse could predict the changes in commitment style. There was a significant relationship between informative and normative identity style with the rate of emotional maturity and predictions can be done based on the components of emotional maturity for identity styles17.
As shown in Table 2, Pearson correlation is used for investigating relationship between informative identity styles and psychological well-being. The results indicate the correlation between informative identity style and psychological well-being (0.303). Since the obtained Sig for correlation between variables is 0.000, there is a significant relationship between the identity styles and psychological well-being and therefore, research hypothesis is confirmed. Moreover, as shown in Table 2, Pearson correlation for analyzing the relationship between normative identity styles shows the level of psychological well-being. Results show that there is a correlation between normative identity style and psychological well-being (0.305). Since the obtained Sig for the correlation between variables is 0.000, therefore, there is a significant relationship between identity styles and psychological well-being and research hypothesis is confirmed. Shokri et al. (2007) conducted a study entitled ‘Individual differences in identity style and psychological well-being: the role of the identity’
concluded that results have a correlational matrix so that there is a positive and significant relationship between informative identity style and psychological well-being. Moreover, there is a positive significant relationship between the normative identity style and psychological well-being scales (except autonomy that is negative and insignificant). There is also a negative and significant relationship between diffuse identity style and autonomy scales, environmental mastery, personal growth and purpose in life and there is a negative and insignificant relationship between diffuse identity style and autonomy scales and scales of positive relationships with others and self-acceptance. Moreover, there is a positive and significant relationship between identity commitment and six scales of psychological well-being.
There is a positive and significant relationship between informative and normative identity style and identity commitment and there is a negative and significant relationship between the diffuse-avoidant style and identity commitment 20. The results of most of the conducted studies are consistent with this finding that there is a direct relationship between more successful identity styles namely informative and normative styles and psychological well-being and it can be concluded that more successful identity styles are good predictors for psychological well-being. On the other hand, identity commitment in these two identity styles is higher than the diffuse. The results of most of the conducted studies21, are consistent with this finding that there is a direct relationship between more successful identity styles namely informative and normative styles and psychological well-being and it can be concluded that more successful identity styles are good predictors for psychological well-being. On the other hand, identity commitment in these two identity styles is higher than the diffuse style. Results of the study showed that there is no significant relationship between the informative identity style and normative identity style with differentiation of self; however, there was a significant relationship between normative identity style and differentiation of self. In addition, the results of this study indicated that there is a significant relationship between all dimensions of the identity style and psychological well-being.
This study was conducted of the BA and MA students;
therefore, the results should be cautiously generalized.
Self-report tests were used in this study that may show the respondents’ biases. Using other measurement tools such as interview and observation and conducting the study for other educational levels are recommended.
110 Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, April-June 2018, Vol.9, No. 2 ethical Clearance: Related departments should be
assured about the confidentiality of the results of questionnaires.
Conflict of Interest: The authors report no conflict of interest.
Source of Funding: Self
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