Associations between the implicit needs for affiliation and power and identity development in a sample of Zambian adolescents

Research indicates that identity development is impacted by implicit motives. Because research in non-Western cultures is scarce, a sample from Zambia is examined; moreover, because previous research has exclusively focused on communal motives (n Affiliation), agentic motives (n Power) are taken into account additionally. We hypothesized that implicit motives relate to identity development only when adolescents report positive parenting experiences. Adolescents (N = 407) provided information on implicit motives, perceived parenting quality, and identity in interpersonal and ideological domains. Results indicate that adolescents with positive parenting experiences make more motive-congruent identity commitments and reconsider them less (at least in the interpersonal domain). Findings open up new questions about the universality of the influence of implicit motives on identity development.