ST11105 Introduction to Developmental Psychology Online Tutoring

Identity Formation in Adolescents; A detailed exploration of psychological theories and models

Adolescents is accompanied with numerous biological, social as well as cognitive changes in lives of young people, which mainly cause extreme level of conflict and confusion in one’s life, if not guided and reflected appropriately. The sense of certainty and stability is undermined at the stage of adolescence and establishment of clear sense of individuals’ identity is considered as key developmental task during this stage of transition (Ali and Ibrahim, 2019). According to Erikson, the process of identity formation mainly begins with role confusions, whereby an individual is expected to resolve the role confusions to begin the process of identity achievement, such that distinct personality aspects of individuals are formed (Fadjukoff, Pulkkinen and Kokko, 2016). It is considerable that although cognitive capacities to initiate the process of identity formation are unique to adolescents, however the overall notion of identity formation is embedded in the whole lifespan of individual (Becht et al., 2016)). For instance, each development stage of individual is accompanied by development of some ego qualities. The development of ego qualities to guide the process of identity formation is thus affected by previous year’s development along with recent experiences. Thus, the level of trust developed in previous years of one’s life, is likely to shape the process of identity formation and the foundation of individual’s identity has already been laid in previous years of life (Žukauskienė et al., 2018).

Identity Models

It can be mentioned that ability of individuals to cope up with the identity crisis and role confusions depend on their progress through previous years of development. The further understanding on how individuals are likely to deal with role confusions and challenges can be seen in the work of Marcia which describes the progression of individuals during the process of identity formation (Ali and Ibrahim, 2019). Marcia has defined the progression of individual on the factors of commitment and exploration, which varies in degree in different stages of development (Hatano and Sugimura, 2017). The first stage is identity diffusion (low commitment and low exploration), which is mainly characterized by procrastination, disorganization as well as avoidance of issues by the individuals. In the next stage of identity foreclosure (low exploration and strong commitment), the individuals might foreclose on the negative identity which oppose their parental values and cultural norms or might confirm to the cultural values which prevail around them (Topolewska-Siedzik and Cieciuch, 2018). When foreclosure happens without much exploration, then it confirmation with prevailing values and cultural norms is much evident. Third stage is of identity moratorium (high exploration and no defined commitment), which shows that individuals postpone the process of identity achievement and take time for carrying out in-depth or in breadth exploration of the opportunities (Klimstra and van Doeselaar, 2017). The last stage is of identity achievement (high commitment is developed followed by extensive and careful exploration), which is characterized by individual’s commitment to values, goals and beliefs followed by careful exploration of the situations and alternatives.

The work of Marcia has also been explored further by contemporary researchers including; five dimensional mode of (Luyckx et al., 2008) and three dimensional model of Crocetti, Rubini and Meeus (2008). Both of these models are considered as extensions of Marcia’s two dimensions of identity formation which are; exploration and commitment, as seen in figure 1. The five dimensional model has new concept of ruminative exploration, whereby individuals hovers around consideration of different solutions and do not reach on any satisfactory solution (Mercer et al., 2017). The commonalities in both of these models, which make it better than work of Marcia, are linked with dual aspect of these models. For instance, these model consider identity formation process to be comprised of identity formation and identity evaluation. Thus, individuals are guided better with regard to identity formation when they conduct in breadth exploration and reconsider their exploration.

Socialization and Identity Formation

The aspect of social interaction is also important during the process of identity formation as it guides the development of interpersonal identity of individuals during adolescence. For instance, a young individual is likely to get engage in the process of categorization, whereby he is likely to label oneself and others into categories and then associates with the certain categories while rejecting others (Topolewska-Siedzik and Cieciuch, 2018). For instance, some young adults associate themselves with group of people who are addicted to drugs, which leads to the process of negative identity formation. The social relation process of identity formation is also accompanied by the comparison stage, which allows the individuals to assess their personal identity within wider social institution. Therefore, when reconsideration and in-breadth exploration is conducted, then young adolescents are expected to differentiate between good and bad aspects of identity. It has been noted by Fitzgerald et al. (2019) that social identity formation helps the individuals to resolve the undifferentiated aspects of their personality. It helps in eliminating any possible contradictions between the personality of an individual as compared to others. This conceptualization indicates that individuals are exposed to opportunities of continuous exchanges between the individuals and their social environment, whereby individuals get chance to continually redefine and reform their identity (van Doeselaar et at., 2019). Therefore, the socialization is integral to the process of identity formation and it helps in continual redevelopment of one’s personal identity.