title: Stages of identity development and problem drinking in college women.
abstract: Deviation from age-appropriate identity-developmental stage and problem drinking in 75 undergraduate women was investigated. A quantity/frequency scale assessed problem drinking. Two measures of identity, one projective and one observational, were used. May's Deprivation/Enhancement fantasy pattern measure assessed sexual identity. The College Women's Assertion Sample assessed the cognitive-style component of identity. The results supported the hypotheses that younger (freshman/sophomore) women deviating from their age-appropriate identity stage of dedifferentiation, and older (junior/senior) women deviating from their age-appropriate stage of identity integration, were significantly more likely to experience drinking problems than were women who had entered their age-appropriate identity stages. The findings support psychodynamic theories of identity development in late adolescence, and suggest that problem-drinking women in different age/ developmental stages of identity drink for different reasons and should be treated differently.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Tobin Hall, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, MA.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Schnur
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Macdonald