Interpersonal identity and social capital: The importance of commitment for low income, rural, African American adolescents

Social capital may, be particularly important for the well-being and future opportunities of African American adolescents living in low income families. In this study linkages between interpersonal identity formation and adolescents' perceptions of social capital quality were examined in a cross-sectional study of 374 low income, rural, African American adolescents (161 males, 213 females), ranging in age from 12 to 19. It was argued that adolescents who have stronger commitments to their interpersonal identities will report better social capital quality. Analysis of variance results indicated that adolescents classified as foreclosed (high commitment/low exploration) in identity status never differed in their perceptions of social capital quality from those classified as achieved (high commitment/high exploration) in identity status. Furthermore, results of structural equation modeling indicated that identity commitment mattered most for explaining variability in social capital quality. Implications for African American adolescent identity formation and future research directions are discussed.