Development of an Objective Instrument to Measure Identity Status in Terms of Occupation Crisis and Commitment

Abstract

Using male/female high school seniors and college students (freshman through seniors), a 40-item, forced-choice, easily scored, group-administered, objective instrument (DISI-O) was developed, corresponding to Marcia's (1964) interview procedure, to assess five levels of occupation identity status in terms of crisis and commitment. Item and factor analyses demonstrated the construct validity of the status scales and discriminant analyses the predictive power. Showing acceptable reliability estimates, the DISI-O related satisfactorily to other methods of assessing occupation identity status—a Likert procedure and Marcia's interview. Chi-square analyses among the identity statuses and sex, grade and age reflected a pattern of psychosocial growth consistent with Erikson's (1963) proposals. Uses of the DISI-O by researchers and counselors were discussed.

Students’ Perceptions about Teachers’ Feedback in a Career Construction: A Study in Vocational Education

“…In general, in terms of status means, the results seem similar to previous works (e.g., Dellas & Jernigan, 1981;Martins & Carvalho, 2013a;Taveira, 1986Taveira, , 2000Taveira & Campos, 1987), the participants tend to occupy the stage of Moratorium identity, which is characterised by young people who are living a period of exploration of the issues of identity while expressing difficulty in making choices. Although the results seem to indicate that most of the participating students occupy the Moratorium identity status, there is slight evidence that some of the students, attending the Hotel Maintenance Operator course are in Achiever identity status and the students in the other two courses, Kitchen and Waiter, are more positioned in Foreclosure and Diffusion statutes.…”

“…In an initial phase of our methodological plan, and in order to answer our first research question, "Which differences are in the vocational identity status according to the vocational courses attended by the students? ", we used a sociodemographic sheets to establish the ages and courses attended by these young people and the Dellas Identity Status Inventory Occupation scale (DISI-O, Dellas & Jernigan, 1981) to understand how vocational identity of the young participants was being resolved.…”

“…The methodological plan used included, in addition to collecting sociodemographic identification data, the Dellas Identity Status Inventory-Occupation (DISI-O; Dellas & Jernigan, 1981, adapted to Portuguese population by Taveira, 1986) and two open questions about students perceptions of the teachers' feedback.…”

Planned Happenstance Skills and Occupational Identity Status in High School Students

“…For example, identity can be fluctuating between moratorium and achievement, and this is called the Mama cycle (Stephen, Fraser, & Marcia, ). Occupational identity development is also complex over a short period of time (Dellas & Jernigan, ; Meeus, ). Similar to Super's () recycling process during career decision making, which can occur in any stage of life, occupational identity could also be in the achievement status after moratorium and vice versa.…”

Annual Review: Vocational Behavior and Career Development—1994

“…Students responded to the CDS, My Vocational Situation (MVS; Holland, Gottfredson, & Power, 1980), and the Career Decision Profile (CDP; Jones, 1989). The Dellas Identity Status Inventory/Occupation (DISI-0; Dellas & Jernigan, 1981) was used to define identity status. On the basis of the study results, the authors concluded that the three measures of career indecision can distinguish among identity status groups.…”