The relative influence of individual identities, identity accumulation, and identity combinations on facets of psychological well‐being

In this work we discuss three identity concepts that have received attention in sociological work: the number of identities (identity accumulation), particular individual identities, and the inclusion of particular combinations of identities in the self‐concept. We examine theoretically their relations to psychological well‐being, using both structural symbolic interactionist identity theory and role theory perspectives. We then present a procedure for empirically unraveling the relative contributions of each of these as influences. Our analyses indicate independent influences of identity accumulation and of individual identities on depression, positive affect, negative affect, affect balance, and stress. We do not find independent influences of identity combination or gender interactions on these facets of well‐being.