Adolescent Identity

"In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.”   (Erik Erikson, 1902—1994)

 Psychologist Erik Erikson is best known for his 8 stages of psychosocial development.  The fifth stage, corresponding to the teen years ages 12 through 18, he called the stage of Identity vs. Confusion.

Influenced by Erikson, the DSM-III*, published in 1980, described a diagnosis called Identity Disorder, a diagnosis reserved primarily for adolescents.  The description of Identity Disorder said that individuals with this diagnosis were often mildly anxious and depressed, and typically asked the question, “Who am I?”  They were described as being distressed by uncertainty and confusion regarding any three or more of the following:

1.    long-term goals
2.    career choice
3.   friendship patterns
4.   sexual orientation and behavior
5.    religious identification
6.   moral value systems
7.    group loyalties

Ominously, the DSM-III description of Identity Disorder reported, “The disorder is apparently more common now than several decades ago. . .”  Nevertheless, when DSM-IV was published in 1994, Identity Disorder was down-graded from a ‘disorder’ to an ‘identity problem’, and by the time DSM-5 was published in 2018 Identity Disorder disappeared altogether from the diagnostic nomenclature.

The diagnosis has disappeared, but adolescent uncertainty and confusion has not. Today’s teenagers struggle more than ever with the question, “Who am I?”  While the focus, of late, has been on gender identity, “What am I?”, it is easy to overlook that the formation of personal identity is a much broader challenge. 

“Who am I?”  It is the task of adolescence to seek to answer that question as they proceed, more or less successfully, through multiple transitional tasks:

•       from being a minor to becoming a legal adult
•         from being asexual to becoming sexual 
•         from having friendships to developing intimacy
•         from being egocentric to having a relativistic viewpoint
•         from feeling invulnerable to acknowledging mortality
•         from thinking concretely to conceptualizing abstractly 
•         from being rule-driven to being conscience and principle-driven
•         from being dependent on others to becoming independent
•         from having external controls to accepting personal responsibility
•         from having fantasies to seeing real possibilities
•         from identifying with parents/peers to developing personal identity  

For many, adolescence is a time of great upheaval and turmoil.  But for many, if not most, the transitions of adolescence are navigated relatively smoothly.  Normally there may be some self-doubt, some insecurity, some moodiness, some experimentation with various alternative lifestyles.  Yet many are able to remain idealistic and goal directed as they begin to unravel the mystery of, “Who am I?”

I was fortunate. I look back and remember my children’s teen years as the most enjoyable and satisfying years of my parenting. I enjoyed attending their activities.  I enjoyed helping with their homework, as I often learned from their homework.  I enjoyed our wide-ranging and often philosophical discussions.  I enjoyed their youthful energy, their well-informed and challenging perspectives, and their emerging sense of autonomy as they began to answer for themselves the riddle of, “Who am I?”

 

*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3^rd edition.