The Identity Status of Nigerian University Students

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Abstract
The concept of identity, developed by Erikson over the last 30 years, has as one of its main features the idea that a sense of identity is acquired by people in all cultures. In the present study the identity status of 106 Nigerian male and female university students was evaluated by means of Simmons' Identity Achievement Scale (I.A.S.). Findings include a mean I.A.S. score of 13.43 which is close to what Simmons obtained with a sample of American college students. The results also resemble Simmons' both in the lack of significant sex differences in mean I.A.S. scores and in the distribution of I.A.S. scores. The existence of this similarity, in spite of considerable sociocultural differences between Nigeria and United States, supports Erikson's notion of the universality of a sense of identity.

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