American International Journal of Social Science Vol. 4, No. 6; December 2015 184 Self-Perceived Identity Scale: A Scale Development Study Prof. Dr. Kurtman Ersanlı Department of Educational Sciences Division of Psychological Counseling and Guidance OndokuzMayıs University (OMU), Atakum 55200, Samsun Turkey Esat Şanlı Research Assistant PhD Candidate Department of Educational Sciences Division of Psychological Counseling and Guidance OndokuzMayıs University (OMU), Atakum 55200, Samsun Turkey Abstract Self-perceived identity means individuals’ having a state of cognitively, emotionally and behaviourally consistent interpretation of themselves, the environment and all factors of their lives, which is specific but also in compliance with the society. In that sense, it is considered to be a very important concept in psychology, especially for the adolescence period. Considering that it will contribute to the literature, it was intended in this study to develop a valid and reliable liker type scale to identify the level of such a substantial perception. Findings of the confirmatory factor analysis also indicated that the obtained fit indices confirmed a two- dimensional structure. Results of reliability analysis for the negative perception of identity and positive perception of identity factors were .87 and .86, respectively. Psychometric characteristics of the Self Perceived Identity Scale suggested that it is a valid and reliable scale to be used for determining the Self Perceived identity level of university students. Keywords: identity, perceived identity, sense of identity, identity scale, self. 1. Self-Perceived Identity Scale: A Scale Development Study While the Identity concept was to a high degree studied in the beginning mainly by clinical psychologists, it was also addressed by development psychologists, social psychologists and sociologists afterwards (Morsünbül, 2005, p. 3; Vignoles, Chryssochoou, & Breakwell, 2002, p. 201). The fact that the identity concept includes physical, cognitive and social elements (Marcia, 1980, p. 159), and has a relationship with some of the concepts which are used to describe psychological features makes it difficult to define this concept (Pekşen Süslü, 2002, p. 2) and find a middle ground while defining it (Atak, 2011, p. 164). Another reason for this difficulty is that the identity definition in general refers to an existential stance, an internal organization of needs, skills, sense of self and socio-political stance (Marcia, 1980, p. 159). Despite all these difficulties, a definition is required to develop a perspective, and this is possible to a certain extent. In this regard, some accepted definitions in the literature were included in this study. Identity is a feeling of subjective integrity, consistency and durability in terms of who we were in the past and whether we are still the same individuals regarding our personality; and our answer to the question ‘’who am I’’, indicating that we are a unique person different from anybody else (Şahin, 2009, p. 33). Marcia (1980, p. 159) defined identity formation as an internal self-structuring, dynamic organization of energy, skills, beliefs and individual experiments; and he defined self-perceived identity as an individual’s having much more awareness at his characteristics similar or dissimilar to others, his strong and weak features while deciding on his own life style. Sheppard, Rothman and Klein (2011, p. 281) define identity as a self-opinion that an individual creates and desires to maintain.