A Quantitative Case Study of Longitudinal Changes in Identity, Intimacy, and Generativity

Abstract

A quantitative case study of one woman's development was conducted in order to explore psychosocial change in early adulthood. A content-analytic coding system for identity, intimacy, and generativity themes derived from E. H. Erikson's writing was applied to letters and diaries of the British writer Vera Brittain written when she was 20 to 21 and 30 to 31 years old. Over time, Brittain used more intimacy and generativity themes and fewer identity themes. Even though Brittain used fewer total identity themes in her writing in her early 30s, her use of one identity subcategory-occupational role-increased in frequency, and the way in which she expressed her identity concerns indicated greater certainty about her identity.

The Middle Ages: Change in Women's Personalities and Social Roles

“…Thus, expressions of goals for the next few years and high points in the last few years were identified as reflecting these three factors in terms of their similarity to the definitions and examples contained in Erikson's accounts. This coding system has been used extensively to assess these three themes in both examinations of personal documents, such as letters, diaries, and autobiographical writings, as well as open-ended questions in survey studies (Espin et al, 1990; Franz, 1988; Peterson, 1993; Peterson & Stewart, 1990; Stewart et al, 1988).…”

Polish Psychological Bulletin

“…A systematic analysis of contents of personal documents (e.g., letters, dairies) is a technique less frequently applied. An example of this method can be the case study conducted in order to explore psychosocial changes in the sphere of identity, intimacy and generativity during early adulthood of a British writer Vera Brittain (Franz, 1995;Peterson & Stewart, 1990).…”