Identity Crisis Among Early Adolescents in Relations to Abusive Experiences in the Childhood, Social Support and Parental Support

By : K.R. Santhosh, Karthika. R. Nair, Justine. K. James

Page No: 165-173

Abstract
The present study inquired if abusive experiences before or during the adolescence contribute to the severity of identity crisis and if parenting style and social support reduce the crisis. Sample of 252 adolescents (82 males and 170 females) were collected from different educational institutions in Palakkad Districts in the state of Kerala, India. Karthika Identity Crisis Scale (Karthika, 2013), Perceptions of Parents Scales (Grolnick, Ryan & Deci, 1991) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988) were used to measure Identity Crisis, Parental support and social support respectively. A Child abuse checklist was developed to assess the intensity of child sexual abuse. Correlation analysis indicated that identity crisis has a moderate positive relationship with abusive experiences and low negative correlation with perceived social support. As per the regression analysis, abusive experiences in the childhood can contribute to identity crisis, but social support can reduce it.

Authors :
Karthika. R. Nair : M.Sc. Psychology, Department of Psychology, Pondicherry University, R. V. Nagar, Kalapet, Puducherry, India-605014.
Justine. K. James : Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Christ University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India - 560029.
K.R. Santhosh : Ph.D., Assistant Professor — Department of Psychology, Jain University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India - 560002