Identity Vs Role Confusion

Adolescence is the period between childhood and emerging adulthood (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). According to Behm-Morawitz and Mastro (2008), this period is generally categorized by development in different spheres of life and often revolves around an increased independence and freedom. In addition, during this period adolescents start to forge a sense of identity. The concept of identity refers to who you as a person and how you fit in society (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). This can be done through a steady set of norms and values, which ultimately influence your identity formation (Klimstra, 2012). Furthermore, Sigelman and Rider (2015), suggest that to achieve a sense of identity, the adolescent needs to incorporate multiple perceptions

Many teenagers often ask themselves who they are and what they believe. As they search for an answer, they slowly begin to build their identity. The principles that underlie the universe of obligation allows adolescents to continue to find their identity. Because of this, impressions or previous stereotypes conceived then usually stays with them until adulthood. Elie Wiesel’s Night and Helen Fein’s Universe of Obligation helps allows teens to understand the world around them.

The Breakfast Club is a movie about five high school students who have to serve detention one Saturday morning. When each student arrives, the viewer gets a brief glimpse into the characters backgrounds. At the beginning of the day you can clearly see the separation among the five students. Claire is considered the princess, Andrew is the athlete, Brian is the brain, Allison is the basket case, and John Bender is the criminal. The irony in it is that as these five students serve detention together they discover over the course of the day that they actually have many similarities. They all have different backgrounds and are involved in different social groups, but discover that they

The movie I have selected for the identity analysis assignment will be the Breakfast Club (1986). The movie is about five teenagers who are from different groups in high school cliques; the popular girl (Claire), the loner (Allison), the athlete (Andrew), the nerd Brain) and the outsider (Bender). They spend the Saturday in detention together. As they spend the day together, they begin to realize their flaws and how much alike they are. The character I will focus on is Andrew Clark. He is a jock, the athlete on the wrestling team. He seems to enjoy his status as an athlete and has a high self-esteem because of that status. Andrew seems to feel like he needs to protect everyone but is hot-tempered. He also follows rules but feels like he

The crisis experienced in Erikson’s fifth stage, adolescence, is identity cohesion vs. role confusion. The crisis is whether or not a person establishes an individual ego identity where their self-image fully describes them to themselves as well as everyone

The development perspectives he uses are Erikson’s personality theory. Throughout his professional career, he noticed how the adolescent years are expanding from 12 years old to 30 years old. In addition to counseling young adults who are still preforming adolescent behaviors, Hoober finds himself looking back at Erikson’s Identity vs. Role Confusion stage. This is where an individual between the ages 12 and 20 are moving towards adulthood and making choices, goals, and vocations that will influence their adulthood (p.

Identity formation is one of the most fundamental tasks in life span development, particularly for adolescence and emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000; Erikson, 1968). Since its conception in Erikson’s ego psychoanalytic theory, a growing literature and significant advances have been made in identity development research (Schwartz, Zamboanga, Luyckx, Meca, & Ritchie, 2013). However, as existing studies with young people were mainly conducted in the high-school and college settings, there is still a call to give attention to the special populations (Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens, Beyers, & Missotten, 2011) and one of such groups would be the children in conflict with the law (CICL).

Personal fable is the second concept in adolescent egocentrism, that is teenagers have an inner belief that they are invulnerable, unique, and special so that they can take risks such as unprotected sex, alcohol and drug abuse (Irwin et al., 1991). Specifically, teenager excessively discriminate their own feelings and thoughts from others and assume that their experiences are very distinctive than others’ experiences. Expressively, the teenager who is unsuccessful in comprehending the experiences and feeling they come across are also familiar to other people. Lapsley et al. (1989) pointed out that personal fable promotes the progress of identity during adolescence.

Cold air fills his lungs, his legs are moving so fast he can barely feel them, and beads of sweat make their way down the side of his face. The finish line is getting closer, he runs even faster. The only thing standing between him and the gold medal are the two runners ahead of him. He pushes harder. The people cheering along the sidelines become a blur. He gets closer to the end…and closer…and closer…Oh no. He halts as he watches the runners ahead of him glide past the finish line. It’s over. He came in third place. He wipes the sweat from his forehead. Eyes fixed on the ground, he dejectedly walks to the bleachers where he is met by his coach and father. “It’s fine Matt, you ran a good race. Remember to stretch and I’ll see you tomorrow for practice.” says his coach as he pats him on the back. His father remains silent. Eyes still fixed on the ground, Matt mutters “Thanks” under this breath. Matt doesn’t lift his eyes to meet his father’s because he knows what he’ll see. Disappointment. Again.

According to the book “identity status” refers to the point in the identity development process that characterizes an adolescent at a given time (Marcia, 1966). Some researchers have used a procedure that makes an emphasis on the processes of exploration-trying out with diverse ideas about occupations, values, relationships…- and commitment-creating options among different choices-. A number of theorists have created two different stages: exploration in depth (“making a commitment to an identity and then exploring one’s options) and exploration in breadth (“exploring one’s options and then making a further commitment”) (e.g., Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006). Other theorists have seen identity growth as a more “dynamic process.” All of them

The teenagers here are often confused about the identities they choose. This often leads to frustration. They may even give up looking for their identities for a while. This is the period where some of the teenagers end up indulging in immoral acts. According to ("6.3 Adolescence: Developing Independence and Identity | Introduction to Psychology," 2015), the independence of thinking in this period requires the adolescents to determine their sense of right and wrong on their own. They, therefore, face a lot of identity crisis in this period ("Adolescent Identity Development,"

The crucial challenge facing adolescents is one of self- definition and identity formation (Erikson (1968). As they proceed through a period of questioning (identity moratorium) to a phase of making commitments without crisis (identity achievement) their self-perceptions and social interactions enable to define their sense of ‘identity’. David Elkind (1967) discussed how people at this point of life experience egocentrism, which leads to self-consciousness due to the belief in an imaginary audience. An important developmental task for adolescents is their ability to self - disclose (Harter, 1999). The Internet provides adolescents with avenues to explore their identities and exchange intimate disclosures (Wolak, Mitchell and Finklehor, 2003). Adolescents engage in Social acuity, a perspective - taking ability to successfully create a desired impression.

These stages are composed of conflicts a person goes through as they develop throughout the lifespan. First is Basic trust vs. Mis-trust, the second is Autonomy vs. Shame, the third is Initiative vs. Shame, the fourth is Industry vs. Inferiority and the last stage this paper will discuss is Identity vs. Role confusion. He put a crucial emphasis on adolescents because at their stage in development they are figuring out who they are; Identity vs. Identity confusion. Adolescents go through a period of psychosocial crisis, this is a developmental period when a person has to resolve a conflict in his or her own life. The common question they face is “who am I?”. When transitioning in adulthood, adolescents may feel insecure or unsure of who they are. Without proper care and encouragement for self-exploration they will fail this stage and possibly have an unhealthy personality and sense of self. This theory is relevant to the thesis because it shows that adolescents are already in a period of importance, and they want to fit in with society. Gender roles is an important component when forming identities among adolescents because society deems them acceptable so they try and follow these cultural norms. Some may not understand a correct balance of both female and male traits and this leads to lower self-esteem (Koopman

Adolescence is a developmental transition between childhood and adulthood and also a period of prominent change for teenagers when physical changes are happening at an accelerated rate. Adolescence is not just marked by physical changes but also cognitive, social, emotional and interpersonal changes as well. The development of a strong and stable sense of self known as identity development is widely considered to be one of the crucial tasks of adolescence. Identity development of an adolescent is influenced by external factors, such as their environment, culture, religion, school and the media.

Due to challenges as well as issues confronted by adolescents they may have identity confusion which is comprised of identity foreclosure, negative identity and diffusion. Identity foreclosure alludes to the identity crisis being resolved by making a series of premature decisions about one’s identity, based on other’s expectations of what and who one should be. Negative identity alludes to adolescents who form an identity contrary to the cultural values and expectations and diffusion refers to a kind of apathy in which the youth lacks any kind of passion or commitment (Louw&Louw, 2007). However, this challenge could be overcome by positive role identity or identity achievement which is “the sense of really knowing who one is and in general, where one is headed in life” (Fleming, 2004: 9).Erikson’s theory states that, throughout life, individuals go through various stages during which one will meet ever changing psychosocial challenges. The completion of the work of each stage which Erikson alludes to as a crisis that prepares one to move on to the following stage. According to this theory, if individuals do not resolve a crisis during any of these stages one will continue to create events throughout life which will recreate a crisis until one have done the psychosocial work necessary to resolve a specific crisis, or not (Erikson,