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Identity Processes

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Encyclopedia of Adolescence

Overview

Adolescence is a bewildering time for many teenagers. Puberty and the emotional, physical, social, and cognitive changes that accompany it may destabilize their sense of self prompting a need to re-examine themselves and grapple with basic identity issues such as: Who am I? Who do I hope to become in the future? What religious, political, and moral beliefs do I hold? What do I want to accomplish with my life? What vocational path should I pursue? Erik H. Erikson (1968) used the concept of an “identity crisis” to capture the sense of ambivalence and confusion adolescents experience as they struggle to answer existential questions about the meaning and purpose of their lives. Resolving an identity crisis and forming a personal identity is one of the major developmental challenges that adolescents must negotiate in the quest to become reasonably effective and responsible self-governing adults (Erikson 1968). A coherent and stable sense of identity provides adolescents with a...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, State University of New York College at Cortland, Box 2000, 13045, Cortland, NY, USA

    Michael D. Berzonsky

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  1. Michael D. Berzonsky
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Correspondence to Michael D. Berzonsky .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University, 302 Sycamore Hall, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Roger J. R. Levesque

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Berzonsky, M.D. (2011). Identity Processes. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1694-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1695-2

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