ABSTRACT A positive relationship between user–avatar bond (UAB; i.e., avatar identification and avatar idealization) and problematic gaming (PG) has been well established among Massive Multiplayer Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) players. However, no study has examined how players’ personal identity relates both to UAB and PG. Based on the Motivated Identity Construction Theory, the current study examined the relationships between actual levels of identity motives (self-efficacy, continuity, uniqueness, self-esteem, and belonging), UAB, and PG in a sample of 675 MMORPG players. Results showed that perceiving oneself as the same person over time (continuity) and feeling included and accepted (belonging) directly protect MMORPG players from PG, while perceiving oneself as highly unique (uniqueness) and having low confidence in one’s own capacity to reach specific goals (self-efficacy) are indirect risk factors for PG as they strengthen UAB. The reasons explaining these links will be discussed.

ABSTRACT Student exchange experiences can promote personal growth and identity development, but little research has explored the types of events and associated responses that support this development. The current study aimed to explore turning point narratives of international exchange students to identify the types of experiences and individual-level factors that are perceived to promote growth and identity development during exchange. Participants were 92 Australian and 95 French university students who had completed an international student exchange program. Participants reported a turning point experience during their exchange, and these responses were coded for event type, meaning-making, narrative coherence, emotional tone, and perceived growth. The most commonly reported turning point events involved recreation and exploration, relationships, cultural learning, and mastery experiences. Higher levels of meaning-making and narrative coherence and a more positive emotional tone were all predictors of perceived growth from turning point experiences. The findings suggest that there are common turning point experiences that occur during exchange and that supporting students to make meaning from their experiences may promote better program outcomes.

ABSTRACT This study investigates identity development in narratives of difficult experiences and associations with wellbeing in the transition to midlife. The narrative processes of emotional sequencing (i.e. emotional tone of how people frame their experiences: redemptive, neutral/vague, negative, and a combination of positive and negative) and positive and negative impact on the identity (i.e. how people perceive the impact of the narrated event) were examined in narratives about difficult experiences in early adulthood (Mage = 33.28, SD=0.54) and midlife (Mage = 38.62, SD =0.61). Results concerning emotional sequencing showed two typical patterns one of stability in neutral/vague sequencing, and another pattern of change from a combination of positive and negative to redemptive sequencing. Furthermore, positive and negative impact in early adulthood was associated with wellbeing in midlife. Findings in this study show that people who are neutral in their way of framing challenges maintain this outlook on life’s difficulties in the transition to midlife. The results also indicate that perceived negative impact of narrated events, and not only positive impact, in early adulthood has bearing on wellbeing during midlife.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this art-based study was to work with non-binary people to explore the impact of their sexual objectification experiences (SOEs) on their relationships with their bodies. Ten non-binary people completed body maps, or artistic representations of their bodies in the context of sexual objectification. Results revealed an idiosyncratic, complicated picture of mixed metaphors and powerful imagery illustrating non-binary SOEs. Themes included a focus on sex characteristics where participants played with nudity, censorship, and boundaries to express and assert themselves. Other forms of expression involved language, facial, gender and cultural expression as well as nature imagery and pain. Participants spoke to their positive, interesting, and challenging experience with the body map itself. Psychologists and clinicians are encouraged to follow best practices when working with non-binary people experiencing sexual objectification, paying attention to how heterogeneous gender identities create unique experiences.

ABSTRACT College student athletes are at risk for mental health difficulties. Athletic identity – the degree of strength and exclusivity to which a person identifies with the athletic role – is associated with health risk behaviors and mental health concerns broadly among student athletes. Given a variety of barriers to college athletes disclosing mental health difficulties, measuring athletic identity may be an indirect way to screen athletes for being at-risk for mental health concerns. The current study examined the factor structure of an increasingly popular measure of athletic identity (the AIMS-Plus) across two samples of self-identified athletes (Nstudy1 = 201; 60.2% male; 61.19% White; 21.39% Hispanic; NStudy2 = 175; 45.29% male; 70.86% White; 20.57% Hispanic) to offer a peer-reviewed validation of the measure. Results suggest that the factor structure of the AIMS-Plus was not supported; however, both a modified version of the AIMS-Plus (the AIMS-Plus-R) and the 7-item AIMS may be acceptable. Continued work refining measures of athletic identity is needed.

ABSTRACT Many theories of motivation recognize a person’s identity adds value to the prediction of behavior; albeit indirectly, through constructs such as social norms, self-efficacy, perceived behavioral control, and values. Recently, behavioral research has more directly assessed the influence of identity on behavior; however, it is unclear whether such research aligns with the theoretical establishments of identity. This review investigated the identity theory alignment of existing behavior research by systematically searching, screening, and reviewing identity-behavior relevant papers, across three behavioral psychology databases. Twenty-three papers meet the inclusion criteria for review (original research with a primary focus on identity and behavior, within healthy adult population), and data relating to identity-behavior theoretical viewpoints, research methods, and study findings were extracted and synthesized to provide a scoping overview of current research. Most reviewed papers presented identity as a loosely defined construct; commonly operationalized as social identity, omitting the theorized multiplicity of social and self-identities. Overall outcomes suggested that identity influences behavior indirectly through intention strength, rather than directly as a post-intention mechanism. While existing research has been crucial in illuminating potential influences of identity on behavior, there is a need to strengthen current understandings and theoretical alignments within future research relating to identity and behavior.

ABSTRACT The goal of the present study was to assess the similarities and differences between parents from different cultures in terms of the intensity of parental identity processes described in the three-dimensional model of identity formation. The cultural measurement invariance of the questionnaire used, the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale-Parental Identity (U-MICS-PI), was also assessed. Participants were 2340 parents (51.4% of mothers) aged from 30 to 59 (M = 43.54; SD = 8.26). The study included parents from North America (USA), the Middle East (Israel), Central Europe (Poland), Africa (South Africa), and Eastern Asia (Japan). Results indicated the full configural, partial metric, and partial scalar invariance of the U-MICS-PI. A comparison of parents from the countries analyzed revealed that the parents from the United States and South Africa were characterized by a more firm commitment and lower level of reconsideration of commitment than those from Poland and Japan.

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to examine whether narcissistic personality features had indirect associations with state self-esteem through perceived status and inclusion. We used a daily diary approach to examine whether daily perceptions of status and inclusion mediated the associations that narcissistic admiration (an agentic form of narcissism that is characterized by assertive self-enhancement and self-promotion) and narcissistic rivalry (an antagonistic form of narcissism that is characterized by self-protection and self-defense) had with daily reports of state self-esteem in 808 undergraduate students. Narcissistic admiration had positive indirect associations with state self-esteem through perceived status and inclusion, whereas narcissistic rivalry had negative indirect associations with state self-esteem through perceived status and inclusion. These results suggest that perceptions of status and inclusion may contribute to the feelings of self-worth that are experienced by individuals with narcissistic personality features. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for our understanding of the connections between narcissism and self-esteem.

ABSTRACT Identity processing styles (i.e., normative, informational, and diffuse-avoidant) refer to differences in how individuals engage or circumvent the challenge of processing self-relevant information and negotiating identity-relevant conflicts. The role identity commitment, personal agency, and self-regulation played in mediating relationships between identity styles and how successfully students were adapting to college was investigated. Measures of identity style, commitment, agency, self-regulation, and three indicators of adaptation (i.e., depressive symptoms, loneliness, and college adjustment) were completed by 402 college freshmen. A normative style was associated with an adaptive pattern; whereas the pattern for the diffuse-avoidant style was maladaptive. An informational style was only directly associated with college adjustment. All these relationships were mediated by personal agency and self-regulation. Commitment only uniquely mediated relationships with depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that identity commitment has a minimal to negligible impact on college adjustment independent from students’ sense of agency and regulatory resources. Implications of the role agency and self-regulation play in how freshmen students with different identity styles form identity commitments and adapt to college are considered.