Social participation, identity style and identity dimensions in late adolescence among students of three types of vocational schools

Abstract

Departing from the model suggested by Luyckx, Schwarz, Berzonsky et al. (2008), the relationships between identity and educational context, social participation, and identity information processing style were investigated. Participants were 972 students from six vocational schools in Poznań. The students, within these six schools, attended Grades I-III of three types of vocational schools: basic vocational schools (n=271), technical upper secondary schools (n=448), and specialized upper secondary schools (n=253). Three questionnaires were used: The Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS/PL), which measures five identity dimensions according to the concept of Luyckx, Schwarz, Berzonsky et al. (2008), Social Participation Questionnaire, developed by Brzezińska, Rękosiewicz and Hejmanowski (see Rękosiewicz, 2013b), enabling identification of the type of social participation, and the Polish adaptation of M. Berzonsky’s Identity Style Inventory 4 (ISI-4) authored by A. Senejko (2010), to examine identity styles. The results showed that the students from basic vocational schools and technical upper secondary schools were more often characterized by the normative identity style, whereas the students from specialized upper secondary schools manifested a greater tendency to engage themselves in exploration, both adaptive and ruminative.

The Revised Identity Style Inventory: Factor Structure and Validity in Italian Speaking Students

“…The given multifaceted suitability of the ISI-5 it can be applied in different settings. For example, the ISI has been widely used to investigate relationships between identity styles and academic and social participation in educational contexts ( Kaczan et al, 2013 ), recovery from substance abuse ( White et al, 2003 ), and cultural transitions ( Szabo and Ward, 2015 ). The ISI-5 provides Italian researchers with an objective means of investigating the role that individual differences in identity exploration and construction may play in predicting adaptive/maladaptive behaviors across a variety of contexts and situations.…”

Inclusion in public administration: Developing the concept of inclusion within a school of accounts and administration

“…Whose responsibility it is to change it? Kaczan et al (2013), in a study investigating the formation of identity and social participation in schools of basic education, points that: (…) school type seems to be a significant factor determining both the manner of defining life objectives by young people and the type of social participation, that is, commitment to roles and activities that help the fulfillment of the current and future tasks.…”

“…If this is so, it is possible to infer that the School of Accounts has not yet become aware that the findings by Kaczan et al (2013) could also apply to its context.…”