Developmental psychology/Chapter 10/Identity

• As we go on through puberty, the question of, "Who am I?", becomes more apparent.
• Identity vs. Role Confusion: Eriksen's 5th stage of psychosocial development. Kids aim to find who they are, albeit confused on which role they take up in society. Accounting for past experiences and the future ahead, one accomplishing the goal of finding their identity is known as identity achievement.
• Family discussions, social context and genes all determine one's variation of finding out who they are.
• James Marcia has created 4 stages in which people deal with identity crisis: (1) role confusion [no motive for any goal] (2) foreclosure [follow culture vs. negative identity, separating from cultural values] (3) moratorium [more mature exploration stage], and finally (4) achievement [identity decided].
• 4 aspects of identity: Religious [more/less following parent's religion], political [voting, social action, may be done; youngsters are more liberal but no major shift in political views until adulthood], ethnicity [less psychological risk if one is proud of their ethnicity] and vocational identity [fitting oneself into a job, such as girls with being housewives; nowadays, 20+ hrs a week for a teenager correlates to negative effects, such as fights with parents and dropping out of school].
• Gender identity: One's prescription to either gender. In this day and age, many people struggle with their gender and continue to break gender identities. Contrary to what Erikson and elders held, where if one struggles with gender identity - they usually prescribe to their sex eventually through culture.
• Gender identity disorder vs. gender dysphoria - one is to stay while the latter is solved through assurance and acceptance, either through social conditions, cognitive shifts or transitioning.