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The “identity crisis” as proposed by Erik Erikson has become a powerful concept in psychology, even though it became popular in the 1960s. is such a concept, for it was eagerly adopted by American society in the 1960s. According to Erikson, the stage of “identity versus role confusion” takes place at a time in a person’s life that falls between leaving childhood and reaching full adult status – a time that is heavily influenced by hormonal changes, but also by the pressure for that young person to prepare for the increasing responsibility and demands of society.

Erikson saw adolescence as a crucial stage of development in which earlier psychosocial conflicts return in a new form, and from which adolescents form the foundations for the development of intimacy, generativity, and understanding that lead to positive outcomes in later stages in life. During the identity crisis of adolescence, we develop things such as: temporal perspective which allows us to have a clear sense of past and future; we acquire self-certainty or self-confidence to try new things; we experiment with roles, often imitating different people as role models; we often begin to experiment with work and relationships; we begin to question authority and begin to develop our own philosophy of life. Of interest is the way adolescents inevitably decide on their sexual orientation and as a function of society, adolescents are freer to question their gender identity, not just their gender role. Regardless of where one falls in the LGBTQI+ there is often great pressure to conform (we will talk about conformity in Social Psychology) to sexual roles that parents and most peers consider “normal.” “Erikson wrote about the aspect of sexual polarization that can be described as “comfort and confidence in the role of male or female.” In early adolescence, young people often feel sexually inadequate because their bodies are less than perfect, or because they feel inferior to peers who tell tall tales of sexual adventures and prowess. Furthermore, sexual roles are changing at the same time that adolescents must form a sexual identity” (Ciccarelli, )

Discussion questions:

After reviewing Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, discuss whether you think that adolescents today have a more difficult time in resolving the stage of “identity vs. role confusion” than in past decades. Make sure you explain why or why not.

Do you agree with Erikson that adequate resolution of the “task” of earlier stages make us more emotionally stable and well-adjusted adults? Feel free to add your opinions on how Erikson’s theory speak to your personal development, as long as you feel comfortable doing so.