Identity In Adolescence : The Balance Between Self and Other (Adolescence and Society)

249 Pages·1996·1.83 MB·English

by  Jane Kroger

Identity in Adolescence
The second edition of the very popular Identity in Adolescence overviews
the contributions of five developmental theorists in considering how effective
intervention with adolescents can be a planned event rather than a chance
occurrence.
Jane Kroger examines the key concepts and practical implications stemming
from the theoretical models of Erik Erikson, Peter Blos, Lawrence Kohlberg,
Jane Loevinger and Robert Kegan. All these theorists point to distinct stages
through which ego organization shifts to a more differentiated self–other
balance and from which identity development proceeds. It is our ability to
recognize and respond to these stages of adolescent identity development
that defines the limits of effective intervention, in either the facilitation of
normative maturation or the alleviation of developmental arrest.
From the author’s own experience working with young people in both
clinical and natural settings Identity in Adolescence offers a unique blend of
theoretical insight and practical advice which will prove invaluable to
academics, professionals and parents.
Jane Kroger is Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of Tromsø,
Norway. Her previous publications include Discussions on Ego Identity (1993).
Adolescence and Society
Series editor: John C. Coleman
The Trust for the Study of Adolescence
The general aim of the series is to make accessible to a wide readership the growing
evidence relating to adolescent development. Much of this material is published in
relatively inaccessible professional journals, and the goals of the books in this series
will be to summarise, review and place in context current work in the field so as to
interest and engage both an undergraduate and a professional audience.
The intention of the authors is to raise the profile of adolescent studies among
professionals and in institutions of higher education. By publishing relatively short,
readable books on interesting topics to do with youth and society, the series will make
people more aware of the relevance of the subject of adolescence to a wide range of
social concerns.
The books will not put forward any one theoretical viewpoint. The authors will
outline the most prominent theories in the field and will include a balanced and critical
assessment of each of these. Whilst some of the books may have a clinical or applied
slant, the majority will concentrate on normal development.
The readership will rest primarily in two major areas: the undergraduate market,
particularly in the fields of psychology, sociology and education; and the professional
training market, with particular emphasis on social work, clinical and educational
psychology, counselling, youth work, nursing and teacher training.
Also available in this series
Adolescent Health Sexuality in Adolescence
Patrick C.L. Heaven Susan Moore and Doreen Rosenthal
The Nature of Adolescence Adolescent Gambling
(second edition) Mark Griffiths
John C. Coleman and Leo Hendry
Youth, AIDS and Sexually
The Adolescent in the Family Transmitted Diseases
Patricia Noller and Victor Callan Susan Moore, Doreen Rosenthal and
Anne Mitchell
Young People’s Understanding of
Society Fathers and Adolescents
Adrian Furnham and Barrie Stacey Shmuel Shulman and Inge
Seiffge-Krenke
Growing up with Unemployment
Anthony H. Winefield, Marika Adolescent Coping
Tiggermann, Helen R. Winefield and Erica Frydenberg
Robert D. Goldney
Young People’s Involvement in Sport
Young People’s Leisure and Lifestyles Edited by John Kremer, Karen Trew
Leo B. Hendry, Janet Shucksmith, and Shaun Ogle
John G. Love and Anthony
Glendinning
Identity in Adolescence
The balance between self and other
Second edition
Jane Kroger
London and New York
First published 1996
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© 1996 Jane Kroger
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 0-415-10678-8 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-10679-6 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-13046-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17844-0 (Glassbook Format)
You observe the carven hand
With the index finger pointing heavenward.
That is the direction, no doubt,
But how shall one follow it?
It is well to abstain from murder and lust,
To forgive, do good to others, worship God
Without graven images.
But these are external means after all
By which you chiefly do good to yourself.
The inner kernel is freedom,
It is light, purity –
I can no more,
Find the goal or lose it, according to your vision.
‘Marie Bateson’, in Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology
This book is again dedicated to those who search and to those who assist
along the way.
Contents
Preface to the second edition ix
Acknowledgements xiii
1 Adolescence and the problem of identity: historical, socio-
cultural, and developmental views 1
2 Adolescence as identity synthesis: Erikson’s psychosocial
approach 13
3 Adolescence as a second individuation process: Blos’s
psychoanalytic perspective and an object relations view 47
4 Identity through a cognitive-developmental lens: Kohlberg’s
contributions 82
5 Ego development in adolescence: Loevinger’s paradigm 112
6 Identity as meaning-making: Kegan’s constructive-
developmental approach 144
7 Towards integration and conclusions: they tell their stories 174
References 199
Name index 224
Subject index 229

Preface to the second edition
When I wrote the first edition of Identity in Adolescence some six years ago,
the interests of social scientists in researching issues of adolescent
development were just beginning to expand. Textbooks for tertiary courses
on adolescence certainly existed, covering a broad range of issues in normative
adolescent development and sometimes including sections on adolescents in
crisis. In the interval since that time, there has been an enormous increase in
research attention directed to issues of both normative and non-normative
development during life’s second decade. Overview textbooks on adolescent
development continue to flourish, but there has been an additional demand
for more specialized texts dealing with specific issues of concern during the
adolescent passage. The present volume and others included in the
Adolescence and Society series edited by John Coleman reflect this important
trend. Additionally, there has been an increasing attempt by many social
scientists to integrate their varied theoretical models and research findings
with some discussion of practical implications for social response to
adolescents in the transition process. The present volume, again, reflects this
ambition. Additionally, efforts towards understanding issues for adolescents
growing up in a diversity of cultural, ethnic, and social class contexts have
also been emerging. A new professional European Society for Research on
Adolescence has recently been established and the Society for Research on
Adolescence in the United States has recently expanded its international
focus. The present volume reflects this growing awareness of the importance
of societal contexts and has substantially revised its introductory section to
elaborate, more fully, some of the historical and socio-cultural conditions
making adolescent identity problematic for young people in societies with
particular features in common.
At the same time, Identity in Adolescence has retained its developmental
focus by examining some of the predictable ways in which young people,
across varied social settings, may mature to reinterpret and make new sense