title: Cross-sectional age differences in the self-conceptions of adults.
abstract: 105 young, 104 middle-aged, and 96 elderly adults were asked to supply 20 answers to the question "Who am I." This followed previous research which has shown the responses of children and adolescents display an age-related increase in the number of abstract ideas used to answer this question. Participants of all age groups also used a high number of abstract ideas to characterize themselves, but the nature of these abstractions showed maturation-related variations in openness, competence, and moral integrity. This pattern of results supports Erik Erikson's theory of identity development in adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Byrd
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stacey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009014:Morals; D010553:Personality Development; D012016:Reference Values; D012649:Self Concept