Relationship between Identity and Value of Life Area in Mid-level Childcare Worker

Abstract

Childcare workers are engaged in childcare jobs while leading their daily lives. In this study, I examined the relationship between identity and value of life area for mid-level childcare workers. Specifically, I first identified the identity statuses of 269 mid-level childcare workers by the identity status determination scale (Kato, 1983). Next, I quantitatively examined the difference in each identity status for the values of their four life areas: 'childcare (workplace)', 'home', 'leisure' and 'relationship with friends'. I also analyzed the effect of childcare worker's efficacy for each identity status. Furthermore, from the descriptive data using the sentence completion tests (SCT), I studied the difference in each identity status on the consciousness to childcare (workplace). For the mid-level childcare workers, their value of life area was similar regardless of their identity status, but qualitative difference was suggested to exist in the consciousness for childcare. Finally, I discussed and described the future issues based on the results of this research.