Identity Status, Separation, and Parent-adolescent Relationships among Boarding and Day School Students

The role of social environment in identity formation and separation has often been overlooked. In order to address this gap in the existing literature, we compared two groups of adolescent high school students aged between 17 and 18 years: those who lived at home and those who lived in a boarding school. We compared the two groups on identity achievement, psychological separation, and their perceptions of their relationships with parents. The findings revealed that boarding school students reported higher levels of foreclosure and emotional and attitudinal independence than did day school students. They also reported lower levels of parental control than did day school students. The findings reveal that the sense of volition that results from physical distance from parents is related to psychological freedom while preserving emotional closeness. These findings have practical implications for parents, teachers, and therapists because they reveal the means by which both identity development and healthy parent-adolescent relationships can be fostered. Implications of these finding for therapeutic boarding schools are discussed.