Identity Networks as a New Frontier: Conceptualizing, Mapping, and Analyzing Identity Structures and Their Impact on Well-Being

Sociological thought emphasizes the interdependencies between an individual’s multiple identities as crucial for understanding processes and outcomes at individual and societal levels. To describe such interdependencies, researchers often invoke the metaphor of a “network of identities.” However, sociology currently lacks a cohesive body of research that moves beyond the metaphor to actually conceptualize, measure, and study identity structures as networks, thus missing the potential benefits of this approach. In this article, we take a networks-based approach to capture identity structures and operationalize key concepts in the identities literature. We use role theory and identity theory to derive hypotheses that link well-being with the prevalence and intensity of interference and facilitation among identities. Using original survey data, we find that both the prevalence and intensity of interferences between identities and the prevalence of facilitation between identities are associated with well-being. Our findings demonstrate the potential of identity networks to advance multiple areas of sociological work.