The Role of Adolescent Romantic Relationships in Identity Formation and Attachment:An Exploratory Study

The aim of the study was to understand the process of Identity formation and attachment in adolescents who have never been in a romantic relationship, who are committed in a relationship and those who have gone through a breakup. 111 late adolescents (N=111) with three different relationship statuses participated in the study. The Identity Styles Inventory (ISI-3) by Berzonsky (1989) was used to measure Identity Commitment and 3 Identity styles (Normative, Information seeking and Diffused). Experience in Close Relationships Questionnaire (ECR-R) by Fraley et al (2000) was used to measure Attachment anxiety and Attachment avoidance. Pearson product moment correlation revealed a strong negative correlation between Identity commitment and Attachment anxiety. One way ANOVA showed that the three groups differed significantly on Identity commitment, Normative Style, Diffuse avoidant style and Attachment. Adolescents who have never been in relationship are very high on Identity commitment and Attachment avoidance while adolescents who are in committed relationship are very high on Normative Identity style and adolescents who have been through break up are highest on attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. The qualitative study was done to understand the difference in the Identity Formation of the adolescents in committed relationship and those gone through breakup. Semi structured interview was taken of the participants. Results of qualitative analysis support the findings of quantitative study.