ABSTRACT Throughout the lifespan, defining a clear self-view plays a key role in both self-concept and identity development. Yet, people may encounter problems of self-definition when constructing an image of themselves as result of contrasts or ambiguities in their ideas about themselves. In this study, differences in the occurrence and types of self-definition problems were investigated in a sample of 733 Dutch participants, divided into four groups aged 17, 40, 55, and 70 years respectively. To measure self-definition problems, we developed a self-report instrument that investigated a range of problems drawn from two distinct research traditions: self-concept development and identity formation. The results revealed that participants experienced only a modest number of the presented problems. They showed, nevertheless, a clear age pattern: the adolescents distinguished themselves from the adult age groups by their concern with the problem of multiplicity, whereas during adulthood the problem of personal authenticity gave way to that of existential vacuum in old age. This pattern corresponds well with the temporal profile in the dynamics of lifespan development and Erikson’s model of ego development.

中文翻译：

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在整个生命周期中经历自我定义问题

摘要在整个生命周期中，定义清晰的自我观在自我概念和身份发展中都起着关键作用。然而，由于对自己的看法存在对比或模糊不清，人们在构建自己的形象时可能会遇到自我定义的问题。在这项研究中，在 733 名荷兰参与者的样本中调查了自我定义问题的发生和类型的差异，这些参与者分别分为 17、40、55 和 70 岁的四组。为了衡量自我定义问题，我们开发了一种自我报告工具，该工具调查了来自两种不同研究传统的一系列问题：自我概念发展和身份形成。结果表明，参与者只遇到了少量所提出的问题。然而，他们显示出一个明确的年龄模式：青少年因关注多样性问题而区别于成年年龄组，而在成年期，个人真实性问题让位于老年时的生存真空问题。这种模式与生命周期发展动态和埃里克森的自我发展模型中的时间分布非常吻合。