The Search for Identity

Guidepost 1 How do adolescents form an identity?

• A central concern during adolescence is the search for identity, which has occupational, sexual, and values components. Erik Erikson described the psychosocial crisis of adolescence as the conflict of identity versus identity confusion. The "virtue" that should arise from this crisis is fidelity.
• James Marcia, in research based on Erikson's theory, described four identity statuses with differing combinations of crisis and commitment: identity achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity diffusion.
• Researchers differ on whether girls and boys take different paths to identity formation. Although some research suggests that girls' self-esteem tends to fall at adolescence, later research does not support that finding.
• Ethnicity is an important part of identity. Minority adolescents seem to go through stages of ethnic identity development much like Marcia's identity statuses.
• According to David Elkind, healthy, stable identity development is achieved by a slow process of differentiation and integration. Today many young people instead develop a "patchwork self," highly vulnerable to stress and outside influence.

Sexuality

Guidepost 2 What determines sexual orientation?

• Sexual orientation appears to be influenced by an interaction of biological and environmental factors and may be at least partly genetic.

Guidepost 3 What sexual practices are common among adolescents, and what leads some to engage in risky sexual behavior?

• Sexual behaviors are more liberal than in the past. Teenage sexual activity involves risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Adolescents at greatest risk as those who begin sexual activity early, have multiple partners, do not use contraceptives, and are ill-informed about sex.
• The course of homosexual identity and relationship development may vary with cohort, gender, and ethnicity.

Guidepost 4 How common is teenage pregnancy, and what are its usual outcomes?

• Teenage pregnancy and birthrates in the United States have declined. Most of these births are to unmarried mothers.
• Teenage pregnancy and childbearing often have negative outcomes. Teenage mothers and their families tend to suffer ill health and financial hardship, and the children often suffer from ineffective parenting.

Relationships with Family, Peers, and Adult Society

Guidepost 5 How typical is "adolescent rebellion"?

• Although relationships between adolescents and their parents are not always smooth, full-scale adolescent rebellion is unusual.

Guidepost 6 How do adolescents relate to parents, siblings, and peers?

• Adolescents spend an increasing amount of time with peers, but relationships with parents continue to be close and influential.
• Conflict with parents tends to be most frequent during early adolescence and most intense during middle adolescence. Authoritative parenting is associated with the most positive outcomes.
• Effects of divorce and single parenting on adolescents' development depend on the way they affect family atmosphere. Effects of maternal employment depend on such factors as how closely parents monitor adolescents' activity and the mother's workload. A mother's working may help shape attitudes toward gender roles.
• Economic stress affects relationships in both single-parent and two-parent families.
• Relationships with siblings tend to become more equal and more distant during adolescence.
• The peer group can have both positive and negative influences. Adolescents who are rejected by peers tend to have the greatest adjustment problems.
• Friendships, especially among girls, become more intimate and supportive in adolescence.

Guidepost 7 What are the root causes of antisocial behavior and juvenile delinquency, and what can be done to reduce these and other risks of adolescence?

• Chronic delinquency is associated with multiple interacting risk factors, including ineffective parenting, school failure, peer influence, and low socioeconomic status. Programs that attack such risk factors from an early age have had success.

Is There a Universal Adolescent?

Guidepost 8 How does adolescence vary across cultures, and what are some common psychosocial features of the period?

• Cross-cultural research has found striking commonalities in adolescents' self-image, attitudes, and coping ability. There is less consistency in the psychological and sexual areas. Age and gender differences exist across cultures.