European Journal of Personality, Eur. J. Pers.

26: 212 (2012)

Published online 26 January 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/per.812

Vocational Identity Trajectories: Differences in Personality and Development of

Well-being
ANDREAS HIRSCHI*
Institute for Strategic Human Resource Management Research and Development Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Lueneburg,
Germany

Abstract: This person-centred study investigated the longitudinal patterns of vocational identity development in
relation to personality, the development of well-being, gender, nationality and the attended school track among two
cohorts of Swiss adolescents in 8th or 9th grade (N 269) and in 11th or 12th grade (N 230). The results
confirmed the existence of four identity statuses, namely, achievement, foreclosure, moratorium and diffusion. Fortytwo per cent of students showed progressive patterns of identity development, while 37% remained in their identity
status over time. Students with different statuses and status change patterns differed significantly in their personality
traits. Higher neuroticism related to the emergence of identity exploration over time, while conscientiousness related
to maintaining or achieving a sense of identity commitment in terms of achievement or foreclosure. Controlling for the
effects of socio-demographics and personality traits, students who reached or maintained a state characterized by
identity clarity and commitment showed a relative increase in life satisfaction, while those entering a state of identity
crisis or exploration showed a decrease in life satisfaction. Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Key words: vocational identity; career development; adolescence; personality; well-being

INTRODUCTION
The development of an occupational or vocational identity is
one core aspect of adolescent identity development (Erikson,
1968). Different researchers have concluded that vocational
identity is a central component of agentic control over ones
career development; as such, vocational identity provides a
framework for goal setting and self-direction, facilitates the
transition from school to work and contributes to ones
adjustment and well-being (Meeus, Dekovic, & Iedema,
1997; Meijers, 1998; Mortimer, Zimmer-Gembeck, Holmes,
& Shanahan, 2002). According to Gottfredson (2002),
children develop their career aspirations through processes
of circumscription and compromise according to power,
gender and social evaluation starting at age three. In
adolescence, they start aligning their aspirations to their
internal, unique self and thus start to form a self-reflective
vocational identity. As such, it has been contended that
actively engaging in the construction of a vocational identity
and reaching at least a tentatively achieved vocational
identity during adolescence is an important developmental
task that promotes adjustment and positive development
(Skorikov & Vondracek, 2007). In this context, the present
study investigated the development of a vocational identity in
adolescence in relation to personality traits, socio-demographic variables and the development of well-being.

*Correspondence to: Andreas Hirschi, Institute for Strategic HR Management Research and Development Leuphana University of Lueneburg,
Wilschenbrucher Weg 84, Lueneburg 21335, Germany.
E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

One framework that has been frequently adapted to study

vocational identity development is Marcias (1980) elaboration of Eriksons (1963, 1968) theory of ego development.
Marcia distinguishes four identity statuses according to the
degree of exploration and decision-making crisis on the one
hand and the commitment to a particular identity on the other
hand. These two dimensions are proposed to be independent,
which results in four possible identity statuses. Identity
achievement (A) is reached after a thorough exploration of
possibilities and a successfully resolution of an identity
crisis, resulting in a commitment to a self-chosen goal. This
status is therefore represented by high commitment and high
exploration. Identity foreclosure (F) describes a state in
which the commitment to an identity is typically reached by
a premature identification with a role model without prior
exploration and crisis (high commitment, low exploration).
Identity moratorium (M) refers to an active, ongoing process
of exploration and crisis and an unreadiness to commit to a
certain identity, represented by high exploration but low
commitment. Finally, identity diffusion (D) refers to a lack of
engagement in and concern about the identity construction
process, represented by low exploration and low commitment.
Regarding the development of identity statuses, Waterman (1999) proposed that there are six possible progressive
developments between the different identity statuses,
namely, D ! F, D ! M, D ! A (through M), F ! M,
F ! A (through M) and M ! A, and six possible
developmental shifts that are not progressive or are even
regressive, that is, F ! D, M ! D, A ! D (representing
the regressive shifts) and M ! F, A ! F and A ! M
(representing anomalous or non-progressive shifts). His
Received 11 May 2010
Revised 15 December 2010, Accepted 15 December 2010

Personality and development of well-being

developmental hypothesis states that identity has a developmental direction away from diffusion toward achievement
through the intermediate steps of foreclosure or moratorium.
Qualitative (Berzonsky, 1996; Meeus, 1996; van Hoof,
1999), and quantitative (Kroger, Martinussen, & Marcia,
2010) reviews of cross-sectional and longitudinal research
support this general developmental hypothesis by showing
that identity achievers are more prevalent in older groups,
while diffusion is more common in younger age groups.
Moreover, the reviews showed that progressive shifts are
more prevalent than regressive shifts between identity
statuses. However, empirical research provides only partial
support for a clear developmental pattern as suggested by
Waterman (1982); research supports an individual difference
hypothesis (Marcia, 1966) of identity statuses, which states
that the statuses represent relatively stable individual
dispositions. In fact, Kroger et al. (2010) reported that
among the 124 studies analysed in their meta-analysis, 49%
of all subjects remained stable in their identity status over
time. Meeus, van de Schoot, Keijsers, Schwartz, and Branje
(2010) report that as high as 63% of their study participants
in early-to-middle and middle-to-late adolescence remained
in the same identity status over time.
Very similar results are reported by studies investigating
vocational identity development in adolescence. Many
adolescents show a relatively stable vocational identity over
shorter periods of time, and there are no clear developmental
patterns between identity statuses (Meeus & Dekovic, 1995;
Meeus, Iedema, Helsen, & Vollebergh, 1999; van Hoof, 1999).
However, over the course of adolescence, there is a
developmental progression from diffusion into achievement
(Fadjukoff, Pulkkinen, & Kokko, 2005; Pulkkinen & Kokko,
2000; Skorikov & Vondracek, 1998).
Identity and personality traits
Given the observed relative stability of identity statutes over
time, one area of interest in the existing literature has been
the investigation of the relationship between identity and
personality traits to understand to what extent identity is also
dependent on a more basic and presumably stable disposition
(Meeus et al., 1999). Research and meta-analyses on
personality development in adolescence showed that traits
are relatively stable starting from early adolescence and that
the major changes in personality occur in early adulthood
(Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005; Klimstra, Hale, Raaijmakers, Branje, & Meeus, 2009; Roberts & DelVecchio,
2000; Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006).
Empirical research on the relationship between identity
statuses and personality (Clancy & Dollinger, 1993; Crocetti,
Rubini, Luyckx, & Meeus, 2008; Luyckx, Goossens,
Soenens, Beyers, & Vansteenkiste, 2005; Luyckx, Soenens,
& Goossens, 2006; Marcia, 1993) showed that identity
achievement was related to high extraversion, emotional
stability, conscientiousness, openness and agreeableness.
Moratorium was related to high openness but lower
extraversion, emotional stability and conscientiousness.
Foreclosure was related to less openness, extraversion,
agreeableness and conscientiousness compared to achieveCopyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ment but was also related to comparatively high emotional

stability. Finally, diffusion was related to low emotional
stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness and moderate
openness. Regarding the two identity dimensions, emotional
stability and conscientiousness were primarily positively
related to the commitment dimension of identity development, while openness was positively related to the
exploration dimension.
Empirical studies investigating vocational identity again
showed very similar results. Higher vocational identity
achievement, specifically with respect to commitment and
career decidedness, was related to different personality
characteristics, such as a higher internal locus of control and
belief in self-efficacy and greater levels of conscientiousness,
extraversion and emotional stability (Betz, Klein, & Taylor,
1996; Bloor & Brook, 1993; Gushue, Scanlan, Pantzer, &
Clarke, 2006; Holland, Johnston, & Asama, 1993; Robitschek & Cook, 1999). However, a less-developed vocational
identity, specifically in terms of lower levels of identity
commitment and decidedness, was related to personality
traits such as increased indecisiveness, dysfunctional
thinking, trait anxiety or depression (Saunders, Peterson,
Sampson, & Reardon, 2000; Strauser, Lustig, Cogdal, &
Uruk, 2006; Sweeney & Schill, 1998).
Identity and well-being
Another line of identity research focuses on its relation to
well-being, based on Eriksons (1968) and Marcias (1989)
proposed connection of the two constructs. Different studies
across identity domains have concluded that achievement is
the healthiest status and the commitment dimension in
particular is related to well-being (Crocetti et al., 2008;
Holland et al., 1993; Luyckx et al., 2005; Meeus et al., 1999).
Consequently, achievement and foreclosure or high identity
clarity and commitment, have been linked to higher levels
and an increase in well-being, moratorium or search for
identity and identity exploration, has been linked to lower
levels, and diffusion has been related to moderate levels.
However, only sparse knowledge is available how
personality relates to the intersection of identity and wellbeing. It is well established that basic personality dispositions, particularly emotional stability and extraversion, are
strongly related to the experience of well-being (Steel,
Schmidt, & Shultz, 2008). Hence, it might be that the reason
different identity statuses are related to different degrees of
well-being could be explained by their relation to more basic
personality traits. To the best of my knowledge, no study has
investigated the incremental validity of vocational identity
development in relation to the development of well-being
above and beyond their common relation to personality in
adolescence.
Another limitation of the current literature is that sparse
attention has been paid to the social and environmental
context of identity development (Schwartz, 2005). Given the
contextual nature of career and identity development
(Phinney & Goossens, 1996; Vondracek, 1992; Vondracek,
Lerner, & Schulenberg, 1986) more attention should be given
to factors such as gender, nationality/ethnicity or educational
Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)
DOI: 10.1002/per

A. Hirschi

and work environments in relation to vocational identity

development.
Present study and hypotheses
The aim of the study was to assess the development of
vocational identity among Swiss students in middle and late
adolescence in relation to basic personality dispositions and
to the development of well-being. Also, vocational identity
development in relation to socio-demographic factors in
terms of gender, nationality and the type of school attended
was of interest.
Based on previous research cited above, it was expected
that conscientiousness and emotional stability would be
positively related to advancement in vocational identity
development, primarily regarding the commitment dimension. On the other hand, openness was expected to be
primarily related to advancement along the exploration
dimension. It was further expected that students in identity
achievement and foreclosure would show the highest levels
of life satisfaction as a key cognitive component of general
well-being (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). Students in
moratorium were expected to show the lowest levels of life
satisfaction, and those in diffusion were expected to show
intermediate levels. Consequently, it was expected that
progress towards identity statuses with high commitment
(i.e. foreclosure and achievement) would be positively
related to an increase in well-being over time. It was finally
assumed that those relationships are true even when
controlling for the common relation of identity development
and well-being to basic personality traits.
In addition to the relation of vocational identity statuses
to personality and well-being, the study took into account
the contextual nature of identity development. It was
conducted in Switzerland, where a strong emphasis is
given to vocational education and training (VET) in
adolescence as the primary route to train and educate the
future workforce. About 70% of all students continue to
vocational education and training after finishing compulsory
school. The remainder of students continue to general high
school or specialized middle schools, where the primary
focus is preparing students for later college education
(Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology,
2007). The study investigated vocational identity statuses
among two cohorts of adolescents: (1) 8th through 9th
graders in their last year of compulsory schooling and prior
to making the transition to VET or high school. These
students were divided into classes with advanced academic
requirements and those with basic academic requirements;
and (2) 11th through 12th grade, prior to making the
transition from post-secondary education to the regular
labour market or higher education. Those students attended
classes at VETs or college-preparation high schools.
Previous research has shown that Belgian adolescents in
the workforce or vocational tracks reported more identity
commitment but less exploratitracks (Beyers and Goossens,
2008; Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens, & Pollock, 2008) and it
was thus expected that students in VET would progress more
towards identity statuses described by strong commitment
Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

(achievement/foreclosure) compared to college-preparation

students, who were expected to move more towards
moratorium. Other studies have shown that among Swiss
students in middle adolescence, no differences between
students in high versus basic academic achievement tracks
existed regarding their vocational identity commitment
(Hirschi & Lage, 2007) but that students in basic tracks
showed more exploration than those in tracks with higher
academic demands (Hirschi, in press). Previous studies have
found gender differences in identity exploration, with female
adolescents showing more exploration but no gender
differences in commitment (Luyckx, Schwartz, Berzonsky,
et al., 2008; Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens, et al., 2008). It was
thus expected that students from basic school tracks as well as
girls would show stronger increases in exploration over time
and would more likely move into a moratorium status
compared to boys and students from advanced school tracks.
Finally, research regarding ethnicity differences for identity
statuses is sparse. However, there are some studies indicating
that students from ethnic minorities score lower in identity
commitment and are more frequently in identity moratorium
(Crocetti et al., 2008; Hirschi, in press) and less in foreclosure,
diffusion (Crocetti et al., 2008) and achievement (Hirschi, in
press) than are adolescents form the ethnic majority. The
same patterns were expected for the present study.

METHOD
Participants
Two cohorts of students from a German-speaking part of
Switzerland participated in the study. Cohort 1 consisted of
269 students, who were assessed at the end of the 8th
grade (T1) and again at the end of the 9th grade (T2). Half
(49.1%) were girls, and the age of the cohort ranged from 13
to 17 years (M 15.1, SD 0.7) at the first time of
measurement. Eighty per cent were Swiss nationals; the
other students had other nationalities, mostly from southeastern Europe. Sixty per cent attended a school track
with advanced requirements; the other attended a track
with basic requirements. This separation is mainly based on
scholastic achievement in primary school and has important
consequences for career development, as students from
advanced tracks have more available vocational and
educational options.
Cohort 2 consisted of 230 students assessed at the end of
the 11th grade (T1) and at the end of the 12th grade (T2). The
majority (71%) were girls. Their age ranged from 16 to 20
years (M 17.5, SD 0.9) at the first time of measurement. Of this group, 188 (81.3%) were Swiss nationals; the
other students had nationalities mostly from western Europe
and south-eastern Europe. Of this cohort, 150 students
(65.2%) attended vocational education and training as office
clerks (34.9%), retail salespersons (22.3%) or assistant
nurses (7.9%); the other 34.8% attended general high school,
which prepared for later college education. Race was not
assessed between the two cohorts, but almost all students in
the region were white.
Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)
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Personality and development of well-being

Measures
Demographic questionnaire
Students were asked to indicate their gender, nationality,
age in years and attended school track. Nationality was coded
as Swiss or other nationality.
Career exploration
As is the case in the Career Exploration Scale by Stumpf,
Colarelli, and Hartman (1983) and other career exploration
scales used in adolescent career development research
(Kracke & Schmitt-Rodermund, 2001), the degree of
conducted career exploration was assessed in terms of selfand environmental exploration. Four items tapped selfexploration (e.g. thinking about personal strengths and
skills), and six items measured environmental exploration
(e.g. acquire information about career fields of interest).
Answers were provided on a five-point Likert scale
indicating to what degree one has engaged in these
behaviours during the last 3 months, with answers ranging
from seldom/few to very much/a lot. Higher scores indicate
more engagement in career exploration during the last
months. Support for the construct validity of the scale was
provided with significant relations to established measures of
career exploration and career planning (Hirschi, 2010).
Further support for the scales convergent and divergent
validity is presented in Table 1. The Cronbachs a values
within the present sample were .90 and .89 for Group 1 and
.88 and .81 for Group 2 at the two measurement points,
respectively.
Commitment
In Cohort 1, commitment was measured with the career
decidedness/commitment scale of the German language
adaptation of the Career Maturity Inventory (Crites, 1973;
Seifert & Stangl, 1986). The scale consists of 12 items (e.g. I
dont know exactly what to do in order to choose the right
occupation) and answers are indicated on a four-point scale
ranging from not agree to completely agree. The scales are
well established in the international literature, and support
for the validity of the German-language version is provided
by several studies showing, for example, positive relations
of the scale to career planning and actively applying for

Table 1. Correlations of identity measures with personality and

well-being scales (N 499)
Exploration

Neuroticism
Extraversion
Openness
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Well-being
T1
T2


p < .05;



p < .01;

Commitment

T1

T2

T1

T2

.025
.025
.137

.012
.145

.176

.075

.021

.094

.015

.191
.118

.027
.090
.262

.197
.076

.005
.064
.147

.295
.239

.009
.443

.078
.177

.081

.057



p < .001.

Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

an apprenticeship after school (e.g. Bergmann, 1993).

Cronbachs a were .85 and .89 at the two measurement
points, respectively. In Cohort 2, commitment was assessed
with the German-language adaptation of the Vocational
Identity Scale (Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980; Jorin,
Stoll, Bergmann, & Eder, 2004). The scale consists of
10 items, and students can indicate how much the statements
(e.g. Im not sure yet which occupations I could perform
successfully) resemble their personal situation ranking
from not at all to completely. Answers were provided on a
five-point Likert scale, and higher scores indicate more
commitment to ones vocational identity. The measure is
well established in the international literature (Holland et al.,
1993), and studies with the German language version
have been able to show that the scale shows positive
correlations to career decidedness, career planning and
career exploration among adolescents (Hirschi & Lage,
2007). Cronbachs a in the present sample was .78 and .88 at
the two measurement points, respectively. Two different
commitment scales were applied because the scales were
designed for different age groups by the scale developers and
possess different face validity for the groups due to item
wording. However, previous studies applying both scales
within the same group of students showed correlations of
r > .8, indicating that the two scales basically measure the
same construct (Hirschi & Lage, 2007). Both scales were
standardized for each participant by dividing the participants scale sum-score by the number of items. The fivepoint scale of Cohort 1 was then linearly transformed into a
four-point scale to make it directly comparable to the results
from Cohort 2.
Personality traits
Neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness and
conscientiousness were assessed with the official Germanlanguage adaptation of the NEO-FFI (Borkenau & Ostendorf, 1993; Costa & McCrae, 1992). Students had to indicate
how much they agree with different statements (e.g. I am not
easily worried), which tap each of the five constructs in
alternative order, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly
agree. Based on scale evaluation studies with adolescents
(Ludtke, Trautwein, Nagy, & Koller, 2004; Rost, Carstensen,
& von Davier, 1999; Roth, 2002) a four-point Likert scale
instead of the original five-point scale was applied. Higher
points indicate a higher value in the assessed construct. The
authors of the scale provide compelling support for its factor
structure, reliability and construct validity (Borkenau &
Ostendorf, 1993). Cronbachs a was .77 for neuroticism, .73
for extraversion, .60 for openness, .69 for agreeableness and
.78 for conscientiousness for Cohort 1 and .83, .75, .69, .68
and .77 for Cohort 2, respectively.
Well-being
The German-language adaptation of the Satisfaction with
Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin,
1985) was applied as an indicator of subjective well-being.
The scale is one of the most frequently applied measures as
an indicator of well-being and has been found to possess
excellent reliability and validity as well as applicability to
Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)
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A. Hirschi

research with adolescents (e.g. Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996;

Neto & Barros, 2007). The German language version showed
proprieties similar to the original version among a group of
Swiss adults (Peterson, Ruch, Beermann, Park, & Seligman,
2007). Cronbachs a in the present study was .82 and .85 for
Cohort 1 and .80 and .87 for Cohort 2 at the two measurement
points, respectively.

Procedure
A random five of 10 secondary schools and the only two
vocational high schools and the only one general high school
in the study region were selected to participate in the research
project. Teachers and directors of the selected schools were
contacted and asked whether they would participate with
their classes in a study on career choice and development and
all agreed to do so. Students and their parents/guardians of
Cohort 1 where then informed about the general nature of the
study some weeks prior to data collection. For both cohorts,
participation was voluntary and with active consent. All
students attending class on the day of data collection
completed the questionnaires. All measures were completed
in their classes under the supervision of their teachers during
an ordinary school lesson. At the first measurement point
(T1), all students completed the demographic survey as well
as the measures for career exploration, commitment,
personality and well-being. At the second measurement
point (T2), approximately 1 year later, the participants again
completed the measures for exploration, commitment and
well-being.

RESULTS
Attrition analysis
At the second measurement point, some classes were no
longer available for data collection, resulting in missing
cases at T2 (Cohort 1, n 59, 22%; Cohort 2 n 42,
18.3%). In Cohort 1, the missing students did not differ in
gender, attended school type, nationality or any of the
assessed variables at T1. Among Cohort 2, students from
college preparation classes were over-represented among the
missing cases, x2 (1, N 230) 43.4, p < .001, w .445
and missing students scored higher in openness (d .53)
and higher in exploration (d .61) at T1. No differences
occurred in the distribution of gender, nationality or other
assessed variables. The results indicate that data for Cohort 1
are probably missing at random. For Cohort 2, some relation
of the missing values to missingness might have occurred, as
missing values in exploration and commitment at T2 might
be related to the unobserved value of those variables.
However, missing data are mainly based in absenteeism of
school classes and not individual attrition. Therefore, it was
determined that the data could reasonably reliably be
estimated with a fully efficient estimation procedure and
missing data in both cohorts were estimated based on the
maximum-likelihood method with SPSS 16.
Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Relations among the measures and group differences

Bivariate correlations showed that commitment at T1 was
correlated with commitment at T2 (r .344, p < .001) and
with exploration at T1 (r .314, p < .001) and negatively
correlated with exploration at T2 (r
.092, p < .05).
Commitment at T2 related positively to exploration at T1
(r .257, p < .001) but negatively to exploration at T2
(r
.151, p < .01). Exploration at T1 was unrelated to
exploration at T2 (r
.063, p .159).
Regarding relationships to the assessed personality
measures, Table 1 shows that commitment at both
measurement points related negatively to neuroticism and
positively to conscientiousness and well-being. Commitment
at T2 was unrelated to well-being at T1. Commitment at T1
also related positively to extraversion at T1. Exploration at
T1 was positively related to openness, conscientiousness and
well-being at T2. Exploration at T2 related negatively to
agreeableness but positively to neuroticism.
Potential group differences in the exploration and
commitment measures were assessed with repeated ANOVA
measures. The results showed a significant main effect of
time for exploration, F(1,497) 7.20, p .008, h2 .014,
but not for commitment F(1,497) 2.28, p .132, h2
.005, indicating an on average significant intra-individual
increase in exploration but not commitment over time. The
interaction effects of time and the socio-demographic
measures showed that girls reported higher increase of
exploration compared to boys, with F(1,497) 13.1,
p < .001 and h2 .026, whereas no gender differences
related to commitment emerged. Swiss students and students
of other nationalities did not differ in terms of changes in
exploration or commitment over time. Students from the
older cohort showed higher increase of exploration, with
F(1,497) 199.1, p < .001 and h2 .286, but lower
increase of commitment, with F(1,497) 34.3, p < .001
and h2 .065, compared to the younger cohort. In order to
examine differences between school-tracks, I analysed each
cohort separately because their respective school-types
were not comparable. Within the older cohort, students
attending VET showed a greater increase in commitment
compared to those in college preparatory high school, with
F(1,228) 8.3, p .004 and h2 .035, but no difference
in exploration. Within the younger cohort, no differences in
exploration or commitment occurred between the two school
tracks (advanced vs. basic requirements).

Statistical approach for investigating the studys aims

In accordance with previous research on identity status
development (Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens et al., 2008;
Meeus et al. 1999, 2010), this study applied a person-centred
approach that identified students with different identity
statuses and different developmental patterns across identity
statuses and described how those groups differ in terms of the
assessed criterion variables. A person-centred approach for
longitudinal data analysis has the advantage of describing
intra-individual change, which provides a different perspective that can differ remarkably from findings based on
Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)
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Personality and development of well-being

dominant variable-centred approaches that describe interindividual change (Molenaar, 2004).
A data-derived approach with cluster analysis to classify
students into different identity status groups was applied
based on two continuous measures for career exploration and
commitment (Schwartz & Dunham, 2000). To classify
students into different identity statuses across time and
cohorts, I applied I-States as Objects Analysis (ISOA). As
explained by Bergman and El-Khouri (1999), this approach
includes first identifying common I-States (that is, typical
states) with cluster analysis of sub-individuals. Specifically,
clusters were formed based on the standardized values for
exploration and commitment across T1 and T2, including all
students from cohorts 1 and 2. This results in a cluster
solution that takes both measurement points into account.
Next, each student at each point of measurement is assigned
to a specific cluster, which is calculated based on the overall
mean values of commitment and exploration across time and
cohort. In this way, the assignment of students to different
clusters becomes directly comparable across time and
cohort. I applied cluster analysis through a two-step
procedure as suggested by Gore (2000). First, hierarchical
cluster analysis using Wards method on squared Euclidian
distances was applied, and the appropriate number of clusters
was determined based on criteria involving the theoretical
meaningfulness of each cluster, parsimony and explanatory
power. In the second step, the initial cluster centres were used
as non-random starting points in an iterative k-means
clustering procedure. In a next step, this information is used
for describing typical developmental patterns by examining
changes in cluster assignment from T1 to T2. Differences
between students with different developmental patterns in
relation to the socio-demographic, personality trait and wellbeing variables were then estimated with multinomial

logistic regression analysis, which is an extension of binary

logistic regression that uses one dependent variable with
several dichotomous categories (i.e. identity status change
patterns).
Vocational identity statuses and change patterns
The above-described cluster analysis procedure produced
four identity status groups, as represented in Figure 1. These
groups correspond directly to Marcias (1980) proposed
states of achievement (high exploration, high commitment),
foreclosure (low exploration, high commitment), moratorium (high exploration, low commitment) and diffusion (low
exploration, low commitment). This solution was deemed
more theoretically meaningful than a three-cluster solution
in which the clusters of diffusion and moratorium would
have been combined into one larger cluster. Moreover, the
three cluster groups explained only 41% variance in
exploration (59% in commitment) while the four cluster
solution was able to predict 56% variance of exploration and
67% in commitment. The four-cluster solution was also
deemed more parsimonious than a five cluster solution in
which the diffusion cluster would have been split up into two
groups of diffusion, both characterized by below-average
exploration and commitment.
Based on those four clusters, 16 identity status change
patterns from T1 to T2 are possible; as such, each student
was assigned to one pattern based on her or his respective
cluster at T1 and T2. Table 2 presents the respective
frequency of students in each cluster at the two measurement
points and the 16 change patterns. As the results show,
stability in the diffusion status was the most frequent pattern,
shown by 20.2% of the sample, followed by stable
achievement (12.8%), diffusion to achievement (12.2%)

Figure 1. Z-scores for exploration and commitment for the derived identity status groups.

Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)

DOI: 10.1002/per

A. Hirschi

Table 2. Number of students in the four identity status groups and

16 change patterns
T1 n
(%)

T2 n
(%)

Change
pattern

Diffusion

249 (49.9)

164 (32.9)

Achievement

135 (27.1)

163 (32.7)

D!D
D!A
D!M
D!F
A!D
A!A
A!M
A!F
M!D
M!A
M!M
M!F
F!D
F!A
F!M
F!F

Moratorium

40 (8)

90 (18)

Foreclosure

75 (15)

82 (16.4)

n (%)
101
61
51
36
28
64
8
35
16
12
9
3
19
26
22
8

(20.2)
(12.2)
(10.2)
(7.2)
(5.6)
(12.8)
(1.6)
(7.0)
(3.2)
(2.4)
(1.8)
(0.6)
(3.8)
(5.2)
(4.4)
(1.6)

and diffusion to moratorium (10.2%). Only very few students

showed stable foreclosure (1.6%), stable moratorium (1.8%)
or achievement to moratorium (1.6%). Taken together and
applying Watermans (1999) classification, 36.5% of
participants remained stable in their identity status over
time, 41.7% showed identity progression and the remaining
21.8% showed other change patterns, including 12.6%
showing regressive changes.
Predicting change in statuses over time
To assess the hypothesis that the socio-demographic
variables of cohort, gender, attended school type and
nationality and the personality traits of neuroticism,
extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness
would predict different patterns of identity status changes
over time, multinomial logistic regression with the 16
aforementioned identity change patterns as dependent
variables was applied. The four socio-demographic measures
and the five personality traits were included as independent
variables. The change pattern of diffusiondiffusion,
representing continuous disengagement in identity construction, was used as the reference category, meaning that
the effects of the independent variables on the difference
between the dependent variables and the reference category
were assessed. The results of the regression analysis revealed
that the independent variables significantly predicted
differences in change patters, with Nagelkerke PseudoR2 .59, x2 (N 499, 150) 436.4 and p < .001. The
results further showed that the cohort, with x2 (N 499,
15) 49.5, p < .001 and w .31, attended school type of
the older cohort, x2 (N 499, 15) 49.7, p < .001 and
w .32, neuroticism, with x2 (N 499, 15) 30.9, p
.009 and w .25 and conscientiousness, with x2 (N 499,
15) 49.0, p < .001 and w .31, significantly predicted
differences in change patterns.
Looking at differences between single change patterns,
the results showed that in comparison to students in the
D ! D pattern, those showing a D ! M pattern were more
Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

likely to be in the older cohort, B 3.81, SD(B) 1.10,

p < .001, while those with an A ! M pattern were more
likely in the younger cohort, B
17.17, SD(B) 0.97,
p < .001. Those with a F ! M pattern were more often in
vocational education compared to college preparatory high
school among cohort 2, B 3.48, SD(B) 1.14, p < .001.
Looking at differences in the standardized (z-transformed)
personality measures, in comparison to D ! D students,
students showing D ! M also showed higher levels of
neuroticism, B 0.51, SD(B) 0.22, p .021, while
those with A ! F, B
0.74, SD(B) 0.29, p .011
and F ! F, B
0.96, SD(B) 0.45, p .031, showed
lower levels of this trait. Higher conscientiousness was
predictive of students with D ! F, B 0.88, SD(B) 0.24,
p < .001, A ! A, B 1.00, SD(B) 0.21, p < .001,
A ! M, B 0.88, SD(B) 0.43, p .042, A ! F,
B 0.63, SD(B) 0.25, p .011 and F ! A, B 0.55,
SD(B) 0.25, p .030, compared to those in continuous
diffusion. Hence, the results regarding the relationship of
personality and vocational identity status change suggest that
neuroticism related positively to the emergence of exploring
ones identity, while higher conscientiousness described
students who showed and/or developed identity achievement
and/or commitment.
Identity status development and change in well-being
Two analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) with life satisfaction
measures as the dependent variables and socio-demographic
and personality trait variables as covariates were calculated
for each time point to assess whether students in different
identity clusters showed different levels of well-being within
time. The results showed that at both T1, with F (3,487)
2.80, p .040 and h2 .017 and T2, with F (3,487)
20.45, p < .001 and h2 .112, there were significant
differences. Corresponding to the hypotheses, at both
measurement points, students with achievement and foreclosure statuses had the highest scores, while those showing a
moratorium status had the lowest scores.
To assess the hypothesis that change in vocational
identity status is related to change in well-being over time,
multiple hierarchical regression analysis was applied. The
measure for life satisfaction at T2 was the dependent
variable. In the first step, the life satisfaction measure at T1
was entered into the model to assess the auto-regressive
effects and inter-individual stability of well-being over time.
In the next step, the socio-demographic variables of cohort,
gender, attended school type and nationality were included.
In the third step, the five trait measures were included.
Finally, identity change patterns were included in the model
in the final step. To enter the categorical variable for change
patterns with the 16 above-described categories, each pattern
was assigned a value of 0 or 1 to represent the membership of
a student in this specific category (that is, no or yes,
respectively). To prevent singularity, the pattern D ! D was
excluded because its membership could be derived from
memberships in the other 15 patterns. By entering the change
patterns in the last step, the model assessed to what extent
change patterns predict inter-individual change in well-being
Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)
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Personality and development of well-being

above and beyond the effects of socio-demographics and
personality traits.
The results showed that 8.1% of variance in well-being
could be attributed to the inter-individual stability of a given
measure over time, with F (1,497) 43.89, and p < .001.
The socio-demographic variables only explained a nonsignificant 1.1% of additional variance, with F (5,492)
1.19, and p .315. The personality traits explained a
significant 5.7% additional variance, with F (5,487) 6.55,
and p < .001. Finally, the identity status change patterns
explained a significant 13.1% of additional variance in
change in well-being above and beyond the already included
measures, with F (1,472) 5.74, and p < .001. Overall,
the model could explain 28% of variance in well-being,
with F (26,472) 7.08, and p < .001. Less neuroticism
(b
.177, p < .001) and more conscientiousness
(b .124, p .006) were significant personality predictors
of inter-individual increase in well-being over time. D ! M
(b
.127, p .012) and F ! M (b
.113, p .016)
predicted a decrease in well-being, while D ! A (b .149,
p .002), D ! F (b .129, p .004), A ! A (b
.196, p < .001), A ! F (b .191, p < .001), M ! A
(b .134, p .001) and F ! A (b .137, p .003)
predicted an increase in well-being.

DISCUSSION
The study investigated the intra-individual development of
vocational identity between two cohorts of Swiss adolescents, from the 8th through the 9th grade and from the 11th to
the 12th grade. It was expected that personality dispositions
together with socio-demographic variables would significantly differentiate between students who showed different
patterns of identity development. It was further assessed how
patterns of identity change would be related to change in
well-being over time and whether such relationships could be
explained by their shared relation to personality traits.
Vocational identity statuses and trajectories
This study applied a derived data-driven, person-centred
approach to data analysis, which classified students into
different identity statuses based on cluster analysis along
the two dimensions of exploration and commitment. Based
on previous longitudinal and cross-sectional research
(Berzonsky, 1996; Kroger et al., 2010; Meeus, 1996; van
Hoof, 1999), many students were expected to show stability
in their identity status over time, with many diverse patterns
of identity change but overall a general development trend
from diffusion into achievement across and within the
assessed cohorts. The results supported the existence of
Marcias (1980) four identity statuses of achievement,
foreclosure, moratorium and diffusion in the context of
vocational school among Swiss adolescents. However, the
differences between the cohorts regarding their identity
statuses only partially conformed to existing research
(Berzonsky, 1996; Kroger et al., 2010; Meeus, 1996; van
Hoof, 1999). Specifically, students in the younger cohort
Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

more often showed a status of achievement at the first

measurement point compared to the older group. This
contradicts the proposition that older adolescents are more
likely to be in a status of identity achievement compared to
younger adolescents. However, as suggested by previous
research, at the second measurement point, the younger
group was indeed more likely to be in a status of diffusion but
less likely to be in a state of moratorium compared to the
older cohort. This somewhat counterintuitive finding might
be explained by the specific educational transitions in the
Swiss system and the respective measurement points of
the present study. The younger cohort was first assessed at
the end of 8th grade, at which point they were supposed to
start applying to either vocational education or high school.
As such, there was a strong pressure to implement a
vocational identity while applying for specific positions,
which might have promoted a sense of early identity
achievement. In contrast, by the end of 9th grade, those same
students had mostly completed their application processes
and might have become temporarily disengaged from
vocational identity construction, while for the students in
the older cohort who faced the end of their education, the
beginning of the job search process might trigger a renewed
identity crises and engagement in vocational identity
construction. In summary, these results support the notion
that identity construction in adolescence does not follow a
linear pattern but is characterized by different phases of
stability, disengagement, tentative achievement and renewed
crises. The data also support the notion that engagement in
career identity construction is a process that starts in early
childhood and continues throughout adolescence (Gottfredson, 2002; Hartung, Porfeli, & Vondracek, 2005).
Longitudinal patterns of identity status change support
this assumption. Applying Watermans (1999) classification
of identity status change patterns, the majority of students
showed progressive shifts among identity statuses over time,
which is in line with previous research (Kroger et al., 2010)
and the general developmental hypothesis (Waterman, 1982)
that on average, there is a progressive development of
identity throughout adolescence from diffusion into achievement. However, the previous finding that identity shows
considerable intra-individual stability was also confirmed.
Within the present sample, 36.5% of adolescents with stable
statuses were somewhat lower in relative number than the
percentages reported in other research, which often reached
or exceeded 50% of the study sample (Kroger et al., 2010).
The diversity of change patterns confirms previous
findings that there is no general hierarchical transition from
so-called lower statuses to so-called higher statuses but that
development occurs via various pathways (Meeus et al.,
1999). However, as also observed by Meeus et al. (1999), a
restricted number of patterns can account for most of the
changes observed among participants. About one-fifth of the
sample showed a continued disengagement in identity
construction, which is a surprisingly large number given the
environmental pressures to construct and implement ones
vocational identity within the present study context. This
confirms other findings that even under such circumstances,
vocational identity construction might be prolonged well into
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10

A. Hirschi

adulthood (Fadjukoff et al., 2005). Stable achievement,

diffusion to achievement and diffusion to moratorium
accounted for another 35% of the observed patterns,
indicating that progressive shifts out of diffusion into
achievement or simply the maintenance of achievement were
common among the students under study.
The results supported the hypothesis that observed
differences in developmental patterns could partially be
explained by the personality traits of adolescents. Most
importantly, neuroticism was related to an emerging or
renewed identity crisis at the end of the assessed time period,
immediately before the investigated educational transitions.
In contrast, conscientiousness was positively related with
reaching achievement and increasing commitment over time.
These findings are in line with previous studies suggesting
that neuroticism is related to continuous exploration in
breath, while conscientiousness relates positively to adaptive
coping with the developmental task of identity construction
during adolescence and emerging adulthood (Clancy &
Dollinger, 1993; Crocetti et al., 2008; Luyckx, Soenens, &
Goossens, 2006).
The results on group differences with respect to status
change patterns did not support the hypothesized differences
according to gender, school type or nationality. In fact, no
differences in change patterns between girls and boys or
between Swiss and students with other nationalities were
observed. Some studies have suggested that girls show
higher levels of exploration (Luyckx, Schwartz, Berzonsky
et al., 2008; Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens et al., 2008) and
that students with an immigration background show a higher
tendency toward moratorium and lower tendency toward
foreclosure and diffusion (Crocetti et al., 2008). The findings
here suggest that the effects of such socio-demographic
variables on identity statuses and change patterns might be
moderated by the specific educational and societal contexts
of adolescents. The contextual effect on identity development is further exemplified by the finding that students in
vocational tracks showed more increase in commitment over
time compared to students in college preparatory high
school.
Development of identity and well-being
This study also investigated the relationship of paths of
vocational identity development and the development of
well-being in terms of life satisfaction. Previous research
showed consistent cross-sectional (Crocetti et al., 2008) and
longitudinal (Meeus et al., 1999) relationships between
identity statuses and well-being. The present study investigated whether these relationships would still be found after
their common relationship to basic personality dispositions
were taken into account. As expected based on previous
research (Diener et al., 1999; Steel et al., 2008), personality
traits, specifically low levels of neuroticism and conscientiousness, predicted an inter-individual increase in wellbeing over time. However, the results provided support for
the hypothesis that different paths of vocational identity
development are related to different degrees of change in
well-being over time, even when statistically controlling for
Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

their relationship to traits. Consistent with expectations,

students who reached or stayed in a status of identity
commitment or achievement showed significantly higher
increases in well-being compared with students who moved
into a state of moratorium, which was related to a decrease in
well-being. The results suggest that it is not a progression in
identity construction as such but specifically the achievement
of a sense of commitment and identity clarity that relates
positively to higher levels of well-being. The findings
support previous studies that show that the commitment
dimension of identity formation in particular is positively
related to well-being (Marcia, 1993), implying that the
inability to reach a sense of vocational identity in middle and
late adolescence may have profoundly negative effects on
life satisfaction.
Limitations and conclusions
Some limitations apply when interpreting the results of the
study. First, personality is one major component with which
to understand identity development, but environmental
factors such as social support are also of theoretical
importance and were not included in the study. Such
environmental factors could also be an alternative explanation for the relation between well-being and identity
development in the way that more environmental support
could lead to greater well-being and also to more positive
identity development. Second, the comparison between
Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 is only cross-sectional. It would be
interesting to follow students for more than one year to gauge
the stability of identity statuses over a longer period of time
and how these patterns are related to personality traits. A
third limitation is that all measures were based on selfreports, which induces shared method bias and might affect
the observed relations among the constructs. Separating
identity, personality and well-being measures in terms of
method, source or time may provide less biased estimates of
their relationship in future studies (Podsakoff, MacKenzie,
Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). Additionally, the limited generalizability of the results due to the use of two convenience
samples in a specific Swiss context must be taken into
account. The study did not collect data on the specific schoolclass of a participant. Theoretically, students within certain
classes may show more similarity than between classes,
which would call for multi-level analysis that was not
possible to conduct in the present study. Finally, the study did
not investigate the possible interaction of personality and
vocational identity development and did not distinguish
between in-breadth and in-depth exploration and commitment-making from identification with commitment (Luyckx,
Goossens, Soenens, & Beyers, 2006). Such extensions and
specifications could prove useful in future studies to increase
our understanding of the dynamics of vocational identity
development in adolescence.
In conclusion, the results provide a picture of the
dynamics and complexity of vocational identity development in adolescence. On the one hand, considerable intraindividual stability in identity statuses was observed over
time, which could partially be explained by differences in
Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)
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Personality and development of well-being

basic personality dispositions of youth. On the other hand,
there was considerable variability in identity development
paths which were significantly related to changes in
subjective well-being. Here, the results do not confirm the
notions that early and middle adolescence is for most youth a
time of identity moratorium and that getting engaged in
identity construction and reaching a reflected commitment
would primarily occur in later adolescence and emerging
adulthood (Arnett, 2000; Meeus et al., 1999). Rather, the
results imply that, at least in the Swiss context, many
students become engaged and subsequently again disengaged in vocational identity construction and that identities
are tentatively formed and later questioned in a dynamic
process, which starts at least in middle adolescence. Apart
from personal dispositions, the specific time points of
educational and vocational transitions and the educational
environment seem to be major factors with which to
understand how and when those processes occur.
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Eur. J. Pers. 26: 212 (2012)

DOI: 10.1002/per