Exercise: Identity Development in Adolescence

Psychology of Adolescence (PSYC 322)

Identity development is one of the key developmental milestones during the period of adolescence, especially in terms of career identity. A great deal of research has been done on the developmental progression of how and when one develops a sense of identity. Specifically, Marcia argues that one does not develop a clear sense of career identity until the period of emerging adulthood (Santrock, 2012). Prior to this time there is significant variability in decidedness that one has toward one's career.

Part of the research process is to replicate findings of other research projects in order to add credibility to the conclusions that have been drawn. As a fellow researching scientist in the area of adolescent development, your goal is to support or refute the age related changes in identity as proposed by Marcia's theory of identity development.

Step 1: Start by doing some background research on Marcia's theory. Specifically, find out the basic components of his theory and his view regarding age related changes in identity status. Also, address the specific influences that could help a teen to develop a coherent sense of career identity. This information can be located in your textbook.

Step 2: One you have a good idea about the details behind his theory collect data to support or refute his theory. Interview at least four teens about their future career using the interview sheet below. One individual must be between 13 and 17 years of age, although I would like you to try to get more if possible. The remaining participants should be less than 25 years of age. (You may use classmates in this class for this exercise.) Make sure to get parental consent for subjects under the age of 18 using the consent form located on Blackboard. You do not need to turn these in unless requested.

Step 3: Analyze your data by first classifying each participant into one of Marcia's four identity statuses. Next, compare the answers given by the younger and older participants to make a determination about developmental differences in identity status. Think about why there might have been developmental differences in identity status or why there were no age differences. You are looking to identify what caused the change and getting older is not a good answer. What cognitive or social changes occurred that brought about this change? Next think about the practical implications of this research or how you would use this information when interacting with teens.

Step 4: Next report your findings in a well-developed research report that might be read by one of your colleagues. The purpose of a research report is to describe how and why you collected the data, the results of your data collection, an interpretation of your data, and how this information might be used. The well written research report has a professional style, no slang or colloquial language, and is written in third person.

In your report answer the following questions:

1. Open your paper by introducing the purpose of the paper. Discuss the problem that you researched, the anticipated results (hypothesis) of your data collection, and why you supported this hypothesis.

2. Provide a brief summary of Marcia's theory of identity status development including the statuses of identity development and age-related changes in these statuses. Don't forget to appropriately cite the source of this information using APA format.

3. Describe your participants (average age, numbers of each sex, average educational status, and at least one other relevant characteristic). To keep answers anonymous refer to your subjects as subject 1, subject 2, etc.

4. Describe how you collected your data. How did you find your participants? What questions did you ask? (Don't just say those provided in the instructions.) How did you ask these questions?

5. Based on the answers given by each participant, provide a brief description of his/her identity status. Make sure to explain why he/she is in that particular status. For example if the person is identity achieved, describe what crisis he/she went through and what commitment the person made. Next list at least one possible influence on his/her identity status? Base your answers on the given influences on identity development. (For this question, you are trying to determine why they are identity achieved etc. and not why they want to be a nurse etc.)

6. Based on all of the answers, do you think there were developmental differences in the identity statuses of the younger vs. the older participants? Why or why not? If you are attributing the differences to developmental differences, be sure to that you are addressing age related differences and not differences attributed to other things such as differences in parenting style. Additionally, make sure that your explanation is a psychological explanation and not a statistical one such as having a small sample size, unequal numbers of younger vs. older participants, or an outlier.

7. Do you feel that Marcia's four identity statuses are helpful in examining adolescent identity formation? If so, how? If not, why are they not helpful? (This question is asking you to address the practical implications of the theory or how the theory might be used in the everyday life of a real teen. If you were a therapist working with a teen or the creator of a social service program, of what benefit is it to you to know the identity status of the teen?)

8. Provide a brief summary in which you list the major findings of the study. A good summary will also explain how this research aids in the understanding of this topic and/or will recommend directions for future research.