Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1977 Sex Differences in the Resolution of the Identity Crisis Caroline K. Waterman I and Jeffrey S. Nevid 2 Received December 17, 1976 Based on Erikson's view of the importance of "inner space"in feminine identity, researchers have added an interview on premarital sex to the standard ego identi- ty interview on occupation, religion, and politics used for males. This study was designed to investigate the relative importance of premarital sexual ideology for males and females, as well as sex differences in identity status on occupation, religion, and politics. Marcia's semi-structured ego identity status interview was given to 70 male and 70 female college students, with premarital sex questions included for both sexes. Consistent with Erikson 's theory, females were more likely than males to have experienced a sexual identity crisis, whereas males were very likely to be foreclosed in this area. Males as well as females were more likely to be committed about sex than about any other area. In all areas except sex, female identity followed basically the same pattern as male identity. INTRODUCTION According to Erikson (1963, 1968), the major socially posed problem for adolescent males and females involves establishing a stable sense of identity. In an attempt to operationalize Erikson's construct of ego identity, Marcia (1966) devised an interview technique to assign individuals to one of four possible ego identity statuses. These statuses are def'med in terms of the variables of crisis and commitment. The term "crisis" refers to a period of active selection t Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York. Received her Ph.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo. Current research in- terests are ego identity and human sexuality. 2Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Received his Ph.D. from State University of New York at Albany. Current research interests are mental health evaluation and behavior therapy. 337 This journal Is copyrighted by Plenum. Each article is available for $7.50 from Plenum Pub- lishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011.