Identity Development

One important task in life is the establishment of identity, a task usually associated with the adolescent. As part of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, he described the major crisis occurring during the teen years as being identity versus identity confusion. Identity is the individuality of a person and comprises relatively stable personality traits that are especially prevalent in certain situations (role behaviors such as being a parent). Identity development, then, is the search for this person one will become, which can either be a smooth or quite complex process.

According to Erikson, a person must resolve his or her adolescent crisis before the person can confront the next stage crisis; thus, some sort of solution must be made with regard to identity, making it a rather important topic. Identity development is not a simple task because it is a process of understanding and synthesizing childhood experiences and memories, family history, and present self-awareness and acceptance, as well as future goals or ideals. Beyond this internal process, the person must also combine his or her relationships with persons and things external to him or her.

Although a development of identity occurs throughout the life course, most of the focus is placed on the adolescent years. The reason for this focus is that adolescence marks two important developments regarding identity. The first is that this is the time in which a person has his or her first experience with reorganizing and restructuring his or her sense of self. The second is that adolescence also marks the time in which cognitive functioning and intellectual capability are high enough to understand the importance of these changes.

This entry examines many aspects important to identity development, including identity crisis, identity status, negative identity development, gender differences, changes in adolescence affecting identity, ethnic identity, and gender role development.