Identity in Adulthood—Stable or Flexible

Abstract

The traditional approach to identity is focused on research of identity attainment in adolescence and early adulthood. Research of identity in adulthood is scarce, but outlines interesting perspectives. This article is focused on the specific features, typical for the transitional periods of identity reformulation throughout lifespan as adaptive response to the experienced contextual specificity. 703 Bulgarian volunteers in total, aged 18 - 60, were administered EOMEIS-2 in two different periods—2008 and 2018. The main objective of the study is three-fold: 1) to account changes in identity statuses distribution in the two time points—2008 and 2018; 2) to describe the most preferred identity status for adults in Bulgaria; and 3) to outline the most frequent statuses as ensuring the best adaptation of the person to the context. The general results reveal that there is no change in the distribution of the identity statuses. 82% of the adults prefer to postpone their stable commitments and reorganize their identity. Furthermore, this is not a result of inner choice but mainly adaptive response to the requirements of the context. Environment, perceived as unstable and preventing strong commitments, results in identity choices postponement as most adaptive person-context transaction.