Adolescent Identity-Seeking

By Melissa Yonelunas
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
January 2011

I found Chapter Two of Understanding Youth to be just as interesting as Chapter One. This book really offers a lot of valuable insights into the minds of the students we will be teaching. The one aspect of the chapter I would like to focus on is Erikson’s idea of Identity versus Role Confusion. Erikson describes this stage of development as “building on the experiences of late childhood, the adolescent task of organizing skills, interests, and values into a core sense of self and applying it to present and future pursuits” (Nakkula, 20). If we consider for a moment that our future students will be invested in this very stage when we have them in class, it is hard to imagine what complex realities of their everyday they will be facing. In addition to our class, they have other classes. On top of that they have responsibilities both at home and at work. Furthermore, as if all that is not enough, they are dealing with the difficult task of figuring out who they are as individuals and who they want to become in the future.

Tackling this question is a demanding task, and our role as teachers is to help guide them on a path to success. I was surprised while reading this chapter to read that a lot of the acting up or misbehavior in classrooms can be a result of students trying on “roles,” or of them being pressured by their peers. It is interesting to consider that we must not punish these students brutally because they may simply be trying to figure out who they are. In offering our true help and compassion instead of judging them, we can guide them in a healthy direction and ease this process that every one of them must face.

I tried to think back on the time when I was going through this. I can not recall having much trouble with this. I have always been an academic student, who identified myself through my scholarship in high school, however, I did explore different realms a bit. I was a member of the fencing team for two years in order to try something new. Ultimately, I found my comfort and confidence in academics and music. I still identify with these areas today. I have also grown a lot more comfortable in my own skin, and have become more outgoing and expressive. Keeping what I learned about identity and role confusion in this chapter in mind, I would like to possibly explore within my research project how different motivations might serve to aid students in this process as well. Perhaps multi-media and interdisciplinary lessons may help them to better express themselves through areas of their own interests whether it be through music, art, drama, etc.