Multiple roles and sense of identity among women in early and later adulthood

The article presents the results of a study conducted on a sample of 80 women aged 19-25 and 72 women aged 40-74. The relationships of the two components of self-complexity (the quantity of self-aspects and the amount of overlap between their contents) with the multidimensionally defined sense of identity were examined. Additionally, phase of life differences in the magnitude of these relationships were also investigated. I used the Self-Complexity Questionnaire (SCQ; Barczak, Besta, & Bazińska, 2007) and the Multidimensional Questionnaire of Identity (MQI; Pilarska, 2012). The obtained results showed that the predictive importance of the number of roles for the sense of identity was marginal, whereas the similarity in the content of roles seemed to favor maintaining the sense of identity. In addition, although significant differences were observed in the self--concept structure and the strength of the sense of identity between the two groups of women, the relationships between these areas of personality were not affected by the phase of the life cycle.