15.4: Identity Development

James Marcia – Theory of Identity Development

One approach to assessing identity development was proposed by James Marcia. In his approach, adolescents ask questions regarding their exploration of and commitment to issues related to occupation, politics, religion, and sexual behavior. Studies assessing how teens pass through Marcia’s stages show that although most teens eventually succeed in developing a stable identity, the path to it is not always easy and there are many routes that can be taken. Some teens may simply adopt the beliefs of their parents or the first role that is offered to them, perhaps at the expense of searching for other more promising possibilities (foreclosure status). Other teens may spend years trying on different possible identities (moratorium status) before finally choosing one.[1]

Marcia identified four identity statuses that represent the four possible combinations of the dimension of commitment and exploration.[2]

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\):- Identity Status

Identity Statuses

Identity Status	Description[3]
Identity-Diffusion status is a status that characterizes those who have neither explored the options, nor made a commitment to an identity.	The individual does not have firm commitments regarding the issues in question and is not making progress toward them. Those who persist in this identity may drift aimlessly with little connection to those around them or have little sense of purpose in life.
Identity-Foreclosure status is the status for those who have made a commitment to an identity without having explored the options.	The individual has not engaged in any identity experimentation and has established an identity based on the choices or values of others. Some parents may make these decisions for their children and do not grant the teen the opportunity to make choices. In other instances, teens may strongly identify with parents and others in their life and wish to follow in their footsteps.
Identity-Moratorium status is a status that describes those who are exploring in an attempt to establish an identity but have yet to have made any commitment.	The individual is exploring various choices but has not yet made a clear commitment to any of them. This can be an anxious and emotionally tense time period as the adolescent experiments with different roles and explores various beliefs. Nothing is certain and there are many questions, but few answers.
Identity-Achievement status refers to the status for those who, after exploration, have made a commitment.	The individual has attained a coherent and committed identity based on personal decisions. This is a long process and is not often achieved by the end of adolescence

The least mature status, and one common in many children, is identity diffusion. During high school and the college years, teens and young adults move from identity diffusion and foreclosure toward moratorium and achievement. The biggest gains in the development of identity are in college, as college students are exposed to a greater variety of career choices, lifestyles, and beliefs. This is likely to spur on questions regarding identity. A great deal of the identity work we do in adolescence and young adulthood is about values and goals, as we strive to articulate a personal vision or dream for what we hope to accomplish in the future (McAdams, 2013).[4]

To help them work through the process of developing an identity, teenagers may try out different identities in different social situations. They may maintain one identity at home and a different type of persona when they are with their peers. Eventually, most teenagers do integrate the different possibilities into a single self-concept and a comfortable sense of identity (identity-achievement status). For teenagers, the peer group provides valuable information about the self-concept. For instance, in response to the question “What were you like as a teenager? (e.g., cool, nerdy, awkward?),” posed on the website Answerbag, one teenager replied in this way:

"I’m still a teenager now, but from 8^th-9th grade I didn’t really know what I wanted at all. I was smart, so I hung out with the nerdy kids. I still do; my friends mean the world to me. But in the middle of 8th grade I started hanging out with which you may call the “cool” kids…and I also hung out with some stoners, just for variety. I pierced various parts of my body and kept my grades up. Now, I’m just trying to find who I am. I’m even doing my sophomore year in China so I can get a better view of what I want. (Answerbag, 2007). What were you like as a teenager? (e.g., cool, nerdy, awkward?)." (Quoted from dojokills on http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/171753)

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Again this skateboarders sense of self is likely affected by the other skateboarders they hang out with. [8]

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): These teens appear to be studying and they likely associate themselves as such, while their religious practices might also affect how they are viewed and how they view themselves in the social context. [9]

Adolescents search for stable attachments through the development of social identities.

Development of Identity and Self Concept: Who am I?

Developmental psychologists have researched several different areas of identity development for adolescence and some of the main areas include:

Religious Identity

The religious views of teens are often similar to that of their families (Kim- Spoon, Longo, & McCullough, 2012). Most teens may question specific customs, practices, or ideas in the faith of their parents, but few completely reject the religion of their families.

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\):A Muslim teen[10]

Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\): A Jewish teen[11]

Figure \(\PageIndex{7}\): A Catholic teen[12]

Figure \(\PageIndex{8}\): A Buddhist teen[13]

Religious identity is an important aspect of identity development in adolescence

Political Identity

The political ideology of teens is also influenced by their parents’ political beliefs. A new trend in the 21st century is a decrease in party affiliation among adults. Many adults do not align themselves with either the democratic or republican party, but view themselves as more of an “independent”. Their teenage children are often following suit or becoming more apolitical (Côtè, 2006).

Vocational Identity

While adolescents in earlier generations envisioned themselves as working in a particular job, and often worked as an apprentice or part-time, this is rarely the case today. Vocational identity takes longer to develop, as most of today’s occupations require specific skills and knowledge that will require additional education or are acquired on the job itself. In addition, many of the jobs held by teens are not in professions that most teens will seek as adults.

Gender Identity

This is also becoming an increasingly prolonged task as attitudes and norms regarding gender keep changing. The roles appropriate for males and females are evolving. Some teens may foreclose on a gender identity as a way of dealing with this uncertainty, and they may adopt more stereotypic male or female roles (Sinclair & Carlsson, 2013). [14]

Ethnic Identity (this is repeated in the culture section/module)

Ethnic identity refers to how people come to terms with who they are based on their ethnic or racial ancestry. “The task of ethnic identity formation involves sorting out and resolving positive and negative feelings and attitudes about one’s own ethnic group and about other groups and identifying one’s place in relation to both” (Phinney, 2006, p. 119). When groups differ in status in a culture, those from the non- dominant group have to be cognizant of the customs and values of those from the dominant culture. The reverse is rarely the case. This makes ethnic identity far less salient for members of the dominant culture. In the United States, those of European ancestry engage in less exploration of ethnic identity, than do those of non-European ancestry (Phinney, 1989). However, according to the U.S. Census (2012) more than 40% of Americans under the age of 18 are from ethnic For many ethnic minority teens, discovering one’s ethnic identity is an important part of identity formation.

Phinney’s model of ethnic identity formation is based on Erikson’s and Marcia’s model of identity formation (Phinney, 1990; Syed & Juang, 2014) Through the process of exploration and commitment, individuals come to understand and create an ethnic identity. Phinney suggests three stages or statuses with regard to ethnic identity:

1. Unexamined Ethnic Identity: Adolescents and adults who have not been exposed to ethnicidentity issues may be in the first stage, unexamined ethnic identity. This is often characterized by a preference for the dominant culture, or where the individual has given little thought to the question of their ethnic heritage. This is similar to diffusion in Marcia’s model of identity (Marcia 2010). Included in this group are also those who have adopted the ethnicity of their parents and other family members with little thought about the issues themselves, similar to Marcia’s foreclosure status (Phinney, 1990).
2. Ethnic Identity Search: Adolescents and adults who are exploring the customs, culture, and history of their ethnic group are in the ethnic identity search stage, similar to Marcia’s moratorium status (Phinney, 1990). Often some event “awakens” a teen or adult to their ethnic group; either personal experience with prejudice, a highly profiled case in the media, or even a more positive event that recognizes the contribution of someone from the individual’s ethnic group. Teens and adults in this stage will immerse themselves in their ethnic culture. For some, “it may lead to a rejection of the values of the dominant culture” (Phinney, 1990, p. 503).
3. Achieved Ethnic Identity: Those who have actively explored their culture are likely to have a deeper appreciation and understanding of their ethnic heritage, leading to progress toward an achieved ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990). An achieved ethnic identity does not necessarily imply that the individual is highly involved in the customs and values of their ethnic culture. One can be confident in their ethnic identity without wanting to maintain the language or other customs.

The development of ethnic identity takes time, with about 25% of tenth graders from ethnic minority backgrounds having explored and resolved the issues (Phinney, 1990). The more ethnically homogeneous the high school, the less identity exploration and achievement (Umana-Taylor, 2003). Moreover, even in more ethnically diverse high schools, teens tend to spend more time with their own group, reducing exposure to other ethnicities. This may explain why, for many, college becomes the time of ethnic identity exploration. “[The] transition to college may serve as a consciousness-raising experience that triggers exploration.” (Syed & Azemitia, 2009).

It is also important to note that those who do achieve ethnic identity may periodically reexamine the issues of ethnicity. This cycling between exploration and achievement is common not only for ethnic identity formation but in other aspects of identity development (Grotevant, 1987).

Bicultural/Multiracial Identity

Some who identify as ethnic minorities may wrestle with the question of how, and to what extent, they will identify with the culture of the surrounding society and with the culture of their family. Phinney (2006) suggests that people may handle it in different ways.⁵¹ Some may keep the identities separate, others may combine them in some way, while others may reject some of them. Bicultural identity means the individual sees oneself as part of both the ethnic minority group and the larger society. Those who are multiracial, that is whose parents come from two or more ethnic or racial groups, may have a more challenging task. In some cases their appearance may be ambiguous. This can lead to others constantly asking them to categorize themselves. Phinney (2006) notes that the process of identity formation may start earlier and take longer to accomplish in those who are not mono-racial.

Individual Identity Development within the Family Context

An individual’s identity forms in part from being a member of a family. In other words, an individual’s personal identity emerges within the context of the family. It is not a neutral environment and family can greatly affect an individual’s identity development (Scabini & Manzi, 2011). Recall the definition of family from the key concepts at the beginning of this book, that family can include various people who have relationship with an individual beyond just legal or biological ties. Many families are also a well-organized group with a high degree of unity that interacts with its social and cultural context. It is different from other social groups because it typically does not have a limited lifetime similar to most social groups, but rather most families have a past, present, and future (Scabini & Manzi, 2011).

Based on the family systems theory (visit the family systems chapter for more information) the family is considered a system (or unit) which is also made up of subsystems that inform one’s individual identity. These subsystems may include couple relationships, sibling relationships, parent- child relationships, and so on (Scabini & Manzi, 2011). Individuals within these systems have separate individual identities as well as the shared identity of a subsystem or family system. This means that individuals’ role identities, such as being a sibling, spouse, parent, and/or child are interdependent with one another. One’s identity in multiple domains such as the identity of being both a parent and child are linked, meaning that parents are also children of the preceding generation (Cigoli & Scabini, 2006). Thus, one’s identity formed in part by one identity role, such as being a child of a parent can influence later identity roles such as becoming a parent. Parenting style can also influence identity development. For example, those who experience significant abuse within their family may not achieve as clear of an identity compared to those who do not experience any abuse within their family (Hasanah et al, 2019).

References:

• Cigoli, , & Scabini, E. (2006). Family identity: Ties, symbols, and transitions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 9780805863185
• Hasanah, , Susanti, H., & Panjaitan, R. U. (2019). Family experience in facilitating adolescents during self-identity development in ex-localization in Indonesia. BMC Nursing, 18(35). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0358-7
• Sinclair, , & Carlsson, R. (2013). What will I be when I grow up? The impact of gender identity threat on adolescents' occupational preferences. Journal of Adolescence, 36(3), 465-474.
• Phinney, S. (2006). Ethnic identity exploration. In J. J. Arnett & J. L. Tanner (Eds.) Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st Century. (pp. 117-134) Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
• Phinney, S. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity development in minority group adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 9, 34- 49.
• United States (2012). 2000-2010 Intercensal estimates. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/popest/data/index.html
• Phinney, S. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults: Review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 499-514. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.499
• Syed, , & Juang, L. P. (2014). Ethnic identity, identity coherence, and psychological functioning: Testing basic assumptions of the developmental model. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20(2), 176-190. doi:10.1037/a0035330
• Marcia, J. (2010). Life transitions and stress in the context of psychosocial development. In T.W. Miller (Ed.), Handbook of stressful transitions across the lifespan (Part 1, pp. 19-34). New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media.
• Umana-Taylor, (2003). Ethnic identity and self-esteem. Examining the roles of social context. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 139-146.
• Syed, , & Azmitia, M. (2009). Longitudinal trajectories of ethnic identity during the college years. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 19, 618. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00609.x
• Grotevant, (1987). Toward a process model of identity formation. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2, 203-222
• Scabini, , & Manzi, C. (2011). Family processes and identity. In S.J. Schwartz et al. (eds.), Handbook of Identity Theory and Research (pp. 569 – 588). Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9_

Attributions:

Child Growth and Development by Jennifer Paris, Antoinette Ricardo, and Dawn Rymond, 2019, is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (identity development in family context adapted by Bhadha, 2023)

[1] Introduction to Psychology by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

[2] Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

[3] Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

[4] Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; Table adapted from Marcia, J. (1980). Identity in adolescence. Handbook of adolescent psychology, 5, 145

[5] Introduction to Psychology by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

[6] Image on Pixabay

[7] Image on Pixabay

[8] Image by Valerie Everett is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

[9] Image by Adi Rahman on Unsplash

[10] Image on Pixabay

[11] Image by Eli is licensed under CC BY 2.0

[12] Image by James Emery is licensed under CC BY 2.0

[13] Image is licensed under CC0 1.0

[14] Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0