Assessing identities of university students in Japan and the United States

Abstract

To examine the differences in adolescent identity between Japan and the United States, we studied university students in both countries (255 Japanese students and 145 American students). Participants completed a questionnaire about (1) self-concept (four identity domains) both in daily lives and in contexts seen as important by students, (2) commitment and exploration levels both for school education and best friends, and (3) contexts related to identity formation. Our analyses revealed that American students valued school achievement, committed and explored school education more than Japanese counterparts, and showed higher competence and positive feelings. In contrast, Japanese students showed higher inhibition scores, put greater emphasis on interpersonal contexts, and showed more commitment and exploration in these contexts. In addition, the differences in self-concepts were found consistently regardless of the importance of context. Our results suggested that social and cultural differences across countries have a significant effect on identity of university students.