How Identity Status Is Shaped During Adolescence

Identity As Erik Erikson noted, the "primary task of adolescence" is to identify one's identity (Berger, 2014, p. 434). Thus, as I reflect on my own personal journey in dealing with the period of identity statuses, I realize that I myself spent a good deal of my adolescence forming who I was. But in a way, I also believe that part of the way that I was formed had a lot to do with my parents and my friends.

For instance, I wanted to be a cheerleader in school because that is what my friends did and I enjoyed cheering on the boys as they played sports. But I was also on the honor roll and this is because my parents taught me the importance of getting good grades and excelling at school. So my peers and my family both influenced my adolescent decisions, which in turn shaped my identity and the way I thought of myself.

I do not recall ever experiencing any "role confusion" as Berger (2014) calls it (p. 435). But this may be because I was always committed to the way forward. Sure, there were times when I might have wanted to quit -- both cheering and studying hard in school -- but I always overcome these negative attitudes. I learned at a young age, thanks to both my parents and my good friends, that I was happiest with everyone else when I was happy with myself.

So if someone upset me in the cheer squad, it was no reason for me to stop doing what I loved to do. It was just an obstacle to overcome, and I could overcome it by not holding a grudge and being nice to the person who was mean to me. This was, in fact, a traditional value that I realized was a good value to have.

This, I believe, is also what Berger refers to as "identity foreclosure" -- which is the process of cutting short the confusion and embracing the common sense or traditional way of going about things and one's own identity. When my body was changing as a young girl, I could tell that my identity status was also.