Identity Development and Marcia’s Identity Statuses by Shital Darji

Introduction

Identity is “a reflective concept of the self, used to define who one is… in brief, having an identity means having a mature sense of who you are and what your goals, values, and principles are (Galotti, 2017, p. 398).” Identity pertains to our basic beliefs and values that precepts the choices we make. Everyone can have more than one identity, such as being a parent, a son/daughter, a teacher, a student, a writer, etc. Kids tend to perceive their identity by what their parents/ or teachers tell them they are, if a parent tells their child that they are a good student then they will believe that about themselves, if they are told that they are worthless then they will believe the latter. Psychologist James Marcia developed the four identity statuses theory. “Marcia's theory descriptively categorizes four main points or stations along the continuum of identity development. These stations or points describe very different identity conditions, ranging from a diffuse and indeterminate individual identity to a precisely defined and highly specific individual identity (Oswalt, 2010).”

Marcia’s Identity Statuses

James Marcia’s identity status “was defined jointly by two factors: whether or not the person had made a definite choice or commitment and whether or not the person had gone through some sort of “crisis,” or period of active doubt and exploration, in making that choice (Galotti, 2017, p. 398).” Marcia’s identity status has four processes, the first I will discuss is identity diffused status in which a teen “has not made any commitments and has not developed a relevant set of values or principles with which to guide his goal setting and decision making in a given realm (e.g., career, education, political philosophy, religious affiliation) (Galotti, 2017, p. 398).” The next identity status an adolescent can face is foreclosure status, “ an adolescent in this stage would be very committed to a plan and/or to a set of values and principles… but similar to identity diffused adolescents in this status have never experienced a crisis or a period of doubt (Galotti, 2017, p. 399).” The third identity status is the moratorium identity status, “this status is often typified by college students who “want to keep their options open.” They are actively exploring different options- experimenting and trying on for size the possibility of different majors, different careers, and different religious or political affiliations (Galotti, 2017, p. 399).” Students in this stage are generally struggling, and not in a state of stability. The identity-achieved status is the best outcome, “the individual here has made one or more personal commitments after having struggled to find his own path toward that decision, this status is seen as marking a successful end to adolescent development, as a bridge has been built from one’s childhood to one’s future adulthood (Galotti, 2017, p. 400).”

My Identity

In my adolescence the identity status that I experienced was moratorium identity status. In my adolescence I did experience a crisis, or a period of doubt and exploration, a major factor that led to this identity status was an eating disorder that I had to work through in much of my adolescence. As I was going through this I explored a lot with my religion (it didn’t change but I became much more interested in it) and after this time I found my love for psychology. I believe that my identity status has definitely changed to identity-achieved now that I have a solid goal and am committed to a career choice. As the book states this is an ideal status and marks the end to adolescent development. After much struggling this is finally achieved.

Conclusion

Since identity is deeply related to one’s beliefs and values, it is no wonder that our experiences shape the status in which we fall. James Marcia’s identity statuses refined and extended Erik Erickson’s developmental work, mainly focusing on adolescent development, which for many is when we tend to establish our own set of beliefs and values (different from parents’ beliefs and values). Throughout out our lives we will experience multiple status’ it takes struggling to find your path, a time of crisis and having a set plan with achievable goals to finally be at the status of identity-achieved.

Reference

Galotti, K. M. (2017). Cognitive Development: Infancy through adolescence (2nd edition.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Inc.

Oswalt, A. (2010, November 17). James Marcia And Self-Identity. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/james-marcia-and-self-identity/