The Influence of Parental Marital Commitment on the Identity Formation of Japanese University Students

Abstract

The objective in the present study was to investigate how parental commitment to marital life affects identity formation of university students. Tolerance for family differentiation was set as a mediating variable. Participants were 271 Japanese university students (mean age = 20.0) who completed a survey. The results of analyses indicated that parental marital commitment influenced identity formation both directly and indirectly through tolerance for family differentiation. In addition, the influence process differed to some degree depending on the gender of the student. The results suggest that it is necessary to consider identity development in adolescence in the context of quality of parental marital commitment.