Identify 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.