Psychological maturity in early adulthood: Relationships between social development and identity

Abstract

The relationship between social development and a sense of personal identity in early adulthood was explored. Information was gathered by structured interviews with randomly selected older students (N = 111, average age 24.1 years). Cluster analysis showed that 9.1% of the sample was very socially isolated but not dissatisfied with that, 28.3% had few social relationships but were very committed to the student identity, and 20.2% seemed to have achieved both intimacy in social relationships and a sense of identity. The relationships between the two attributes of intimate social relationships and personal identity, which are often described as criteria for psychological maturity in early adulthood, are variable. Longitudinal studies and nonstudent samples are both essential for further research. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.