Adolescent psychological well-being by identity style.

High school-age adolescents (N=262) in two samples completed a measure of identity style, along with measures of self-esteem, hopelessness, delinquent attitudes, educational expectations, and optimism/efficacy. Analysis of variance was used to evaluate the relationship between identity style and the other psychosocial variables. Participants classified as having a diffuse/avoidant orientation had lower self-esteem and higher delinquent attitude scores than those with either an information or normative orientation. At the same time, the diffuse-avoidant style was associated with higher hopelessness and lower optimism/efficacy scores than the normative and information styles. The normative and information styles did not differ significantly in terms of the dependent variables. Results also indicated that males were more likely to be diffused and females more likely to be information-oriented.