Identity and marriage: A bidirectional approach based on evidence from Finland

Psychological factors, such as personality traits or skills, have increasingly been studied with regards to family formation processes, such as marital behavior, in previous demographic research. Identity has received less attention as a predictor of important partnership outcomes, although identity formation belongs to the crucial developmental processes of adolescence. We aim to address this gap by examining the bidirectional association between identity and marriage using longitudinal survey data from Finland. We apply event-history analyses in order to study the prospective power of both identity dimensions (variable-centered approach) and identity clusters (person-oriented approach) on marriage risks. Furthermore, we conduct fixed effects linear regression models for examining identity development over time based on marital status. Findings suggest that identity uncertainty is negatively, and identity certainty is positively associated with marriage risks over time. Results based on cluster analyses support these findings, i.e. committers are more likely to get married than explorers. Mixed findings with regards to identity development have emerged. Whereas identity certainty remains stable over time among married individuals, it decreases among singles. Identity uncertainty, however, has not shown different developments over time according to marital status.