The Search For Identity - The Teenage struggle

As a young person moves from childhood to adolescence, they come face to face with a difficult challenge. They begin to search for the answer to the question, "Who am I?" This begins a crucial time for all early adolescents. Teens must continue the process of forming their own identity. They will be able to move on to other pertinent questions as the teen progresses from adolescence to adulthood. More specifically the question of, "What am I going to do with my life?" and "Where am I going, and can I get there from here?"

David L. Lehman writes in his book, Current Thinking In Adolescent Psychology," the fundamental task of adolescence is 'ego identity' or 'self-definition.'" (1969, p73) This does not suggest that a child entering adolescence has no concept of self, but it becomes the critical need of the teenager. The need for self-knowledge becomes their quest. In the book, The Adolescent Experience, Douvan and Adelson put it this way:

"Identity does not begin in adolescence. The child has been formulating and reformulating identities throughout his life.... At adolescence, however, the commitment to an identity becomes critical. During this period, the youngster must synthesize earlier identifications with personal qualities and relate them to social opportunities and the social ideals. Who the child is to be is influenced ( and in some cases determined) by what the environment permits and encourages." (1966, p14)

These are years of transition and development. When a person is seeking to change, define, find, or discover their new self, they will inevitably run into conflict. Trying to determine who one is, does not promote inner peace and calm it produces confusion and frustration.

To understand adolescence and identity formation, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of the stages of adolescent development. Each stage contains its own physical, psychological, social, and spiritual traits. Dr. E. Keith Olson's book, Why Teens Act The Way They Do, lists the three stages of adolescent development:

• Early adolescence (ages 12 to 14),
• Mid-adolescence (ages 15 to 16), and
• Late adolescence (ages 17 to 21)." (1987, p20)

The early adolescent is generally in Junior High school, and is moving from childhood to adolescence. They experience a number of changes all at once. Physically they begin to mature, they grow taller, they start growing hair in new places, their voice may begin to change, and they enter a stage of physical ackwardness. Psychologically, early adolescence begins the process of parental separation, and becoming their own person.

The mid-adolescence stage is characterized by a continued physical change and additional sexual changes. These teens become much more interested in the opposite sex. Gary Dausy says in The Youth Workers Source Book, "...homogeneous interests give way to heterogeneous interests. The brain is bombarded with questions about what to do about all of these feelings so new and so demanding." (1983, p14) Psychologically these teens will continue the process of parental separation by joining with groups of peers who go against the stated desires of their parents. This is a normal part of beginning the formation of their identity.

Late adolescence marks the transition into early adulthood. Things begin to calm down a little. The body begins to level itself out and the changes are less drastic and less frequent. They may physically have attained adulthood but many questions still remain. "What am I going to do with my life," and "Should I go to college or take a job." This stage marks a dramatic turn towards their future. Spiritual issues that may have been too complicated before hand, seem to take on new meaning and ownership as they are able to think in a more abstract fashion.

The best way to characterize adolescence is to say that it is change. Adolescence is key to becoming a happy and healthy adult. In the same way Identity Development is just as important. Identity formation requires that the teen have a self-ideal in which they can look to as their goal. There are many factors involved in a teenager forming that self-image or self-ideal.

The first area is inherited traits. Here we find the question psychologists have been thinking about for years, the idea of "Nurture vs. Nature." Some believe that a persons inherited traits predetermine their personality characteristics, while others believe it is their environment that shapes these characteristics. There is also the feeling among many that it is a little of both. Teens moving through adolescence may not have full control as to who or what they will become because of these inherited traits. The impact on identity formation, while a minor one, still must be considered as significant.

Along side the inherited traits, is the family. Families account for one of the largest areas of impact on a teen's identity formation in at least two ways. The first has to do with the structure and content of the values espoused by the family. Before adolescence these values were more or less accepted because the parents believed them to be true. Some of these values will remain significant to the teenager. A second way, is that the young person may reject all or part of the parental value system. They may look around to replace it with one of their own. Other factors within the family include, birth order, demographic location, economic stability, family dysfunction, abuse, and communication.

Another area in the development of identity is the physical traits of the individual. What do they look like? Do they consider themselves too short or fat? Do they have freckles? Do they need corrective lenses, or other need oriented articles? To quote Larry Richards in his book "Youth Ministry,"

It would appear from autobiographical material, that the adolescent not only is acutely aware of every physical variation from his concept of what is normal or beautiful or handsome, but that is perhaps his most frequent frustration. (1980, p74)

Any kind of physical deviation can be of great concern to any young person. It can have a positive or negative effect on how they identify themselves. If you are tall in a school with a good basketball program it could be a big boost as to how you see yourself. However, if you have severe acne, oily hair, or are overweight, the impact on your identity could be negative and cause great concern or anxiety.

Anywhere that teens spend a large percentage of their time can have an impact on the development of their identity. A good example of this is school. How do they fit in? Are they popular, artistic, or athletic. Socializing with certain groups can have an impact on identity. If they are seen by their peers as smart or resourceful, or slow and dumb, each can have an effect. One other important influence at school that is significant, is the relationship between the teachers, coaches, and administrative personnel. The images that these professionals mirror back to the kids they serve, can have lifelong implications concerning the formation of their identity. Relationships with peers in the school setting can have as much impact as the school staff.

The spiritual life of the teenager and their families spiritual involvement is another significant matter. Any group that teens belong, or adhere to, will affect their development of identity. Churches have a great opportunity to provide input, and model to young people important personal characteristics. The church can model good, Christian morals and ethics, provide men and women as proper role models, and most importantly can model themselves after the greatest exemplar, Jesus Christ. As Jesus modeled after the Father so the teenagers can be encouraged to model after Him. God can not only answer the question of, "Who am I?" He can also answer, "Where am I going and what am I going to be."

There are many other factors that can help determine how we formulate the contents of who we are; Some include: Social and economic factors, geographic location, rebellion, television, movies, music, radio, books, hobbies, clubs, death of loved ones, divorce, remarriage, heroes, role models, and many more.

All of these factors help to shape the adolescent and formulate their identities. It is a very complex and delicate thing. It is important to remain balanced as teens search for their identity in any of the ways mentioned here. It is important to allow time and space for these necessary explorations and experiences. It is also a sobering thought that all the adults in a teen's life can have significant impact on how that teen will see themselves, and their world, as well as formulate their identity through our actions.

Questions? Ask Bob

Bibliography
Dausey, Gary (1983). The Youth Leaders Source Book. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan: p.19.

Douvan, Elizabeth and Adelson, Joseph (1966). The Adolescent Experiment. New York: John Wiley and Sons: p.14.

Oleson, Keith O. (1987). Why Teenagers Act The Way They Do. Loveland Colorado: Group Publishers: p.20.

Lehman, David L. (1969). Current Thinking In Adolescent Physcology. Scranton, Penn: International Textbook Company: p.73.

Richards, Larry O. (1980) Youth Ministry. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan: p74.