The Ego Identity Status Approach to Ego Identity

In the process of commitment, adolescents are thought to make durable life decisions, for example about education, profession, and worldview.

“In the process of commitment, adolescents are thought to make durable life decisions, for example when it comes to their education, profession, and worldview (Erikson 1968; Marcia 1993).”

In psychosocial perspectives, two key stages in the identity development of adolescents are distinguished: exploration and commitment.

“In the studies in our literature selection that adopted psychosocial perspectives, two key stages in the identity development of adolescents are distinguished: exploration and commitment.”

The process of exploration concerns inquiry into new possible interests and trying out new activities in order to learn what values one considers important and what goals one deems worth pursuing.

“The process of exploration concerns the inquiry into new possible interests as well as the trying out of new activities in order to learn what values one considers as important and what goals one deems worth pursuing.”

Discovering who you are and want to be requires some courage, because it may involve risks and discomfort; it is accompanied by new experiences and change.

“Discovering who you are and want to be is understood to require some courage, because it may involve risks and discomfort; it is accompanied by new experiences and change (Erikson 1968; Kroger 2007; Marcia 1993; Sinai et al. 2012).”

Identity exploration, understood by psychosocial scholars as the questioning of already present identifications through triggering frictions and some discomfort that allow for the (re-)evaluation of childhood identifications, does not necessarily exclude the possibility of relating adolescents' personal lives to school and vice versa.

“Here, it should be noted that identity exploration, which is understood by scholars who adopt a psychosocial perspective on identity development as the questioning of already present identifications through triggering frictions and some discomfort that allow for the (re-)evaluation of childhood identifications (Erikson 1968; Kroger 2007; Marcia 1993; Sinai et al. 2012), does not necessarily”