Specificities of identity status in adolescents and emerging adults survivors of 2010 Haiti earthquake

This study examines whether the Luyckx's five-dimensional process-oriented identity model (i.e., exploration in breadth, commitment making, exploration in depth, identification with commitment, and ruminative exploration) can be applied with Haitian French-speaking adolescents and young adults who survived the earthquake of January 12, 2010 in Haiti. The data were collected in Haiti between May and June 2016. In our sample of 699 adolescents and young adults (aged 14-24 years; 50,86% female), the five-factor dimensional model of identity was applied while highlighting the interest of a six-factor model in recent literature. Results showed that the hypothesized five-factor model could not be confirmed as such. Instead, a six-factor model, where the Exploration in Depth is split into two separate empirical dimensions of Exploration in Depth and Reconsideration of Commitment, suited the sample data better. 40.2% of the participants present a `'troubled'' achievement identity related to socio-political and cultural contexts (e.g., precarious and unstable socio-political and economic conditions, difficult access to university and unemployment) that hinder identity formation.