Sense of Identity and Meaning Making in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

Abstract: This study investigated sense of identity and meaning making in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Participants (N = 194) wrote autobiographical narratives regarding divergence from norms and answered a questionnaire concerning their sense of identity. The results showed that emerging adults experienced higher identity coherence than adolescents, and that women expressed personal meaning to a higher extent than men in their autobiographical narratives. Also, the study showed that individuals who drew negative meaning from their narrated events experienced higher identity confusion and lower identity coherence than individuals who drew positive meaning. Finally, the study suggests that meaning making is equally salient for individuals who are uncertain about their identity as for individuals who have a more established sense of who they are.