Identity-balance Difficulty

What it measures

People often hold competing versions of themselves — who they'd ideally like to be and who they feel obligated to be. Four items ask how much tension exists between the two.

Response Format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Representative items

• My Ideal identity and my Ought identity directly compete with one another.
• I have difficulty balancing my Ideal identity and my Ought identity.
• It is easy to maintain both my Ideal identity and my Ought identity.
• Resolving competition between my Ideal and Ought identities is easy.

Citation

Saint Clair, J.K., & Forehand, M.R. (2020). The Many-Faced Consumer: Consumption Consequences of Balancing Multiple Identities. Journal of Consumer Research, 46(6), 1011–1030.

Keywords