Explain identity crisis during adolescence.

Identity in Adolescence:

Identity is a new way of thinking about oneself that emerges during adolescence. Identity involves a sense of self-unity, accompanied by a feeling that the self has continuity over time.  A firmly established identity also provides a sense of uniqueness as a person. According to Erikson’s psychosocial model of development, identity must be perceived by the individual, but also recognised and confirmed by others.

Thus, the process of establishing an identity involves “Integrating into a coherent whole one’s past experiences, ongoing personal changes, and society’s demands and expectations for one’s future” The process of developing an identity begins with the infant’s discovery of self, continues throughout childhood, and becomes the focus of adolescence.

Erik Erikson, identified the goal of adolescence as achieving a coherent identity and avoiding identity confusion. Identity is multidimensional and may include physical and sexual identity, occupational goals, religious beliefs, and ethnic background. Adolescents explore these dimensions, and usually make commitments to aspects of their identity as they move into early adulthood. Identity development begins with children’s awareness that they are separate and unique individuals.

First indications of this awareness are evident in infancy when children begin to recognise themselves. They recognise the reflected image as themselves. Also, the words “me,” “I” and “mine” emerge very early in children’s language. These findings are consistent with Erikson’s psychosocial stage of autonomy versus shame and doubt, when infants establish their identity as independent persons. During childhood, self-awareness grows and changes. 

Preschoolers describe themselves in terms of observable characteristics and behaviours, including physical attributes (“I have brown eyes”), preferences (“I like to ride my bike”), and competencies (“I can sing ‘Itsy, Bitsy Spider”‘).      Between ages six and twelve, children begin to include less concrete aspects of the self in their descriptions. Schoolaged children talk about their feelings (“I love my dog”) and how they fit into their social world (“I’m the best fielder on my team”).

During Erikson’s stage of initiative versus guilt children explore their skills, abilities, and attitudes and incorporate the information into their view of self. The physical, cognitive, and social changes of adolescence allow the teenager to develop the identity that will serve as a basis for their adult lives. During Erikson’s stage of identity versus role confusion, adolescents’ description of self expands to include personality traits (“I’m outgoing”) and attitudes (“I don’t like stuckup people”).

The emergence of abstract reasoning abilities allows adolescents to think about the future and experiment with different identities. Identity development involves two steps. First, the adolescent must break away from childhood beliefs to explore alternatives for identity in a particular area. Second, the adolescent makes a commitment as to their individual identity in that area.

Some aspects of identity, especially among young adolescents, may be foreclosed. The foreclosure status is when a commitment is made without exploring alternatives. Identity achievement during adolescence serves as a basis for our adult expectations and goals for us.  As individuals enter early adulthood they use their current understanding of whom they are to develop a lifespan construct which serves as the link between the identity developed in adolescence and the adult self. The lifespan construct is an integration of an individual’s past, present, and culture.

Identity Crisis:

An identity crisis is a developmental event that involves a person questioning their sense of self or place in the world. The concept originates in the work of developmental psychologist Erik Erikson, who believed that the formation of identity was one of the most important conflicts that people face. According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself. While developing a sense of identity is an important part of the teenage years, Erikson did not believe that the formation and growth of identity were confined to adolescence only.

Instead, identity is something that shifts and changes throughout life as people confront new challenges and tackle different experiences. Are you unsure of your role in life? Do you feel like you don’t know the ‘real you’? If you answer yes to the previous questions, you may be experiencing an identity crisis. Theorist Erik Erikson coined the term identity crisis and believed that it was one of the most important conflicts people face in development.

According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself.  Erikson’s interest in identity began in childhood. Erikson described identity as “a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. As a quality of unself-conscious living, this can be gloriously obvious in a young person who has found himself as he has found his communality.

In him we see emerge a unique unification of what is irreversibly given-that is, body type and temperament, giftedness and vulnerability, infantile models and acquired ideals-with the open choices provided in available roles, occupational possibilities, values offered, mentors met, friendships made, and first sexual encounters.” In Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, the emergence of an identity crisis occurs during the teenage years in which people struggle between feelings of identity versus role confusion.

Researcher James Marcia has expanded upon Erikson’s initial theory. James Marcia argued that identity could be viewed as a structure of beliefs, abilities and past experiences regarding the self. “The better developed this structure is, the more individuals appear to be of their own strengths and weaknesses. 

The less developed this structure is, the more confused individuals seem to be about their own distinctiveness from others and the more they have to rely on external sources to evaluate themselves.”Identity is a dynamic, not static psychological structure. The formation of identity in adolescence sets the stage for continual changes in the content of identity through the adult years. There’s a good reason to overcome an identity crisis. Researchers have found that those who have made a strong commitment to an identity tend to be happier and healthier than those who have not.

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