Comparing Identity Styles of Committed and Non-Committed Women in Tehran

Considering the fact that women commitment to marital life plays a significant role in family stability, the present study is aimed at comparing identity styles of committed and non-committed women. With that in view, 10 unfaithful women who had been suspended in Fardis Prison, and 10 faithful women who had referred to Arvin Counseling Center were purposively selected. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection, and the data was analyzed through content analysis of the taken notes. Based on the findings of the study, there were differences between the two groups of faithful and unfaithful women with regard to determining indices of identity style, i.e., religious, political, and occupational attitudes as well as description of self, decision-making method, goals and future plans, future outlook, emotions in making major decisions, selection of friends, and attitudes towards gender. Considering the mentioned features and their distribution, we can conclude that the dominant identity style of non-committed women of this study is avoidant/diffuse identity style and for committed women it is informative identity style.