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Development of self-understanding during the college years
Abstract
The current study investigated three primary issues relating to self-understanding during college: differences in self-clarity and self-complexity across identity status, the relationship of self-clarity and self-complexity to college exposure, and the roles of exploration, perceived diversity, and self-reflection in the relationship between college exposure and self-understanding. To examine these issues, college students (N = 224) completed a sorting task and a series of self-report questionnaires. Different amounts of self-clarity were found across the identity statuses. Identity-achieved individuals had the highest levels of self-clarity, followed by those in foreclosure and diffusion, with students in moratorium exhibiting the least self-clarity. In contrast, self-complexity was not found to be related to identity status. Self-complexity showed a general positive linear relationship with college exposure. Analyses also revealed a curvilinear effect with self-complexity at its highest for juniors and a slight drop for individuals near the end of their college years. Exploration and perceived diversity did not mediate this relationship. Moreover, contrary to expectations, self-clarity was not related to college exposure. However, post-hoc analyses revealed interesting relationships among the variables in the model such as positive relationships between exploration and perceived diversity, between exploration and self-clarity, and between self-reflection and both exploration and perceived diversity. These relationships suggest that exploration and perceived diversity may play an important role an the self-understanding of college students. The current study pointed to the potential use of self-clarity and self-complexity as constructs helpful for conceptualizing the development of self-understanding during the college years. Such increased knowledge of the development of self-understanding may provide practical benefits in making policy and teaching decisions regarding the promotion of the personal development of college students.
Subject Area
Higher education|Developmental psychology|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Narloch, Rodger Harry, "Development of self-understanding during the college years" (1998). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9903778.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9903778